“Vaccination prevention should not be the cinderella of the health system; vaccinations are strategic and essential; no distinction between mandatory and recommended: they are all very important and all those provided by Lea offered in an active and free form”. Thus Roberto Ieraci, infectious disease specialist and vaccinologist Vaccine Strategies Group of the Lazio Region, participating in the round table ‘Let’s take care of meningitis in Lazio’, a phygital event broadcast live on Facebook and Youtube profiles and on the Adnkronos website, which promoted the initiative with the non-conditioning support of GlaxoSmithKline.
“The word meningitis – observes Amelia Vitiello, president of the national committee Free from meningitis – it always is compared to the fact that it is a rare disease. The vaccine is not mandatory ein the collective imagination of parents, is considered as non-essential. The fact that it is only recommended makes it perceive as a ‘series B’ vaccine. As rare as it may be, it must be understood that it takes lives and it is important for parents to be able to choose the life and the opportunity that the vaccine can give. When we talk about 2-300 cases a year and 10% of deaths and 15-20% of sequelae, we are talking about 25 children a year who, when they are gone, leave an unspeakable void. I can tell you: among those 25 children, in 2007, there was Alessia “.
In fact, free from meningitis comes from a personal experience. “I lost my first daughter, Alessia, at 18 months, in 2007. Then there was no vaccine – says Vitiello – If there had been, Alessia would be here today. I met other parents who had unfortunately had the same experience as mine. and we set up this committee with the hope of filling the information gaps with campaigns explaining what meningitis was, how it manifests itself, but above all how to prevent it. We wanted to create a dialogue between scientific societies and institutions to understand how the voice of parents could be of help in vaccination and information campaigns “.
In the vaccination chain against meningococcus, the Lazio Region guarantees the quadrivalent (ACWY) free of charge from the year up to 18 years. For strain B it is free from 3 months to the fourth year and then from 11 to 18 years. “For some age groups – underlines Vitiello – from 4 to 11 years, parents have to pay the ticket”, which creates a discontinuity. Parents should “be informed” and understand that “the vaccine is an opportunity in defense of children, but also for immunosuppressed or frail family members. It is a right for those who protect themselves and a duty for the weakest groups who cannot get vaccinated. “.
“Compulsory or recommended, they are vaccinations”, reiterates Elena Bozzola, pediatrician at the Bambino Gesù hospital in Rome. “It is important – he adds – that Italian families know that no vaccine that is administered to children is experimental, they have a series of steps that go beyond the study for authorization because they are continuously studied and monitored: they are safe. Parents they must not be alarmed by a swelling at the injection site or a rise in temperature. They must trust the pediatrician and scientific information. 15% of parents are hesitant, in limbo, and the decision comes late. The cases are not very many, but even the loss of a child is serious “.
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