Covid vaccinations, “Italy black shirt”. In 2023 we were “one of the European countries with the lowest vaccination coverage, around 13%.. The consequence: 10 thousand deaths and 82 thousand hospitalizations, especially among the elderly and fragile patients, such as chronically ill and immunosuppressed patients, most of the time not vaccinated”. This was reported by Siti and Simit, the scientific societies of hygienists and infectious disease specialists, who dictate 5 “urgent actions ” to prepare for the next vaccination campaign. “The objective is to reach 75% of fragile patients”, they explain, inviting us to define a “tailored prevention” strategy with the offer of “a ‘right’ vaccine for each individual patient” and above all to plan ahead: targets, times and methods of the 2024-2025 campaign must be defined “by this month of May”, warn the experts.
“The rate of vaccination coverage against Covid-19 in the last year has remained particularly low”, report the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases: “Slightly more than 2 million doses. Also assuming that the recipients were only elderly and frail subjects, the coverage rate in these populations remains stuck “at 13%, one of the lowest levels in Europe, as reported by ECDC data” , European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. A “framework that has failed to meet the objectives set by the Circular of the Ministry of Health of 14 August 2023”, observe Siti and Simit, who in the document ‘Proposals for urgent actions for the next Covid-19 vaccination campaign in Italy’ urge us to take action .
The joint Siti-Simit document is proposed as a “starting point to turn the spotlight on the vaccination campaign for the next 2024-25 season. The objective to be pursued – hygienists and infectious disease specialists state – is to increase vaccination coverage against Covid-19 up to levels of the flu shot: minimum 75% in the age target and in subjects at risk”. To achieve this, specialists indicate “5 actions to start as soon as possible”.
Five actions for the fragile
Define the target populations by Maythe times and methods of carrying out the vaccination campaign, possibly also recommending it in the National Vaccination Prevention Plan (Pnpv);
ensure the supply of stocks to all vaccination offering channels (general practitioners, local and hospital clinics, pharmacies, RSAs);
ensure a supply of all available vaccines (mRna and adjuvanted protein) to safeguard the choice of the most appropriate vaccine in every condition;
undertake training and information actions for healthcare workers involved in the vaccination campaign, also remembering the opportunities for co-administration;
inform the population about times and methods of carrying out the campaign, as well as on the importance of prevention in subjects who are fragile due to their age and/or risk condition”.
“Incorrect and non-incisive information, together with a less than brilliant organization, places us as a European black jersey for the protection of the elderly and frail – states Roberta Siliquini, president of Siti – We hope that, with everyone’s contribution, the next vaccination campaign may be more effective in preventing a pathology which, for these subjects, remains of significant severity. It is also necessary to be able to guarantee equal access to all the different vaccines available with a view to personalized prevention”.
“To date, Covid-19 still represents a threat to the National Health Service, although it is no longer an emergency as in previous years – declares Roberto Parrella, president of Simit – The numbers relating to deaths and hospitalizations, with a concentration of cases with a moderate and severe degree of severity in older populations and with conditions of increased risk (chronic pathologies, immunosuppression), are eloquent, without forgetting the possible consequences such as Long Covid vaccination remains the most effective tool for the prevention of the disease and it is important that it is carried out in the initial months of the autumn season, before a possible critical period of spread of the virus as has already happened in previous years”.
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