“First of all, let me talk about vaccinations in general, regardless of whether they are recommended or mandatory. Simply because vaccines are all equally important and effective in preventing serious and sometimes fatal diseases ”. Thus Vanessa Perone, free choice pediatrician from Pistoia and Provincial Secretary of the FIMP section of Pistoia downstream of the 22nd Regional Congress of the FIMP Tuscany which ended in these days.
Unfortunately, we know how much covid has affected our daily life. From the point of view of preventive medicine, the impact was particularly strong mainly because the staff of the vaccination services were hijacked in the tracking system of the ongoing epidemic, and the routine vaccinations consequently ceased.
“Fortunately for us – continued the expert – in Tuscany children are vaccinated by family pediatricians and this has allowed the maintenance of high vaccination coverage. Delays were noted only in the very first months of the pandemic, when there was also a lack of personal protective equipment (masks, visors, gowns). Then there were the vaccine recoveries. To give examples, the coverage for hexavalent (tetanus, diphtheria, poliomyelitis, pertussis, hepatitis B, hpv) in the first months of life was almost 97%, even slightly higher than the previous year. The same can be said for chickenpox, whose coverage in the first years even increased by 3 points to almost 94% “.
A big leap forward was also made for coverage for the rotavirus vaccine, important in the prevention of the most serious forms of gastroenteritis in the newborn and infant, with the risk of dehydration and hospitalization. In fact, coverage for rotavirus increased nearly double from the previous year to nearly 44%. We are still far from the goal, but satisfied with the result achieved.
The pandemic has unfortunately affected above all the anti-meningococcal B and C vaccinations in the first months of life, whose coverage has dropped by up to 2 percentage points, even reaching 78% for meningococcus B. Moreover, a larger (and severe) lowering is found in adolescent anti-meningococcal covers.
“This means that there is a great risk that, while we learn to live with Covid-19 – underlined the pediatrician, our children and adolescents will return to get sick with extremely serious and fatal diseases, such as meningitis. Therefore, it is very important to vaccinate children against these diseases as soon as possible ”.
Unfortunately, meningococcal diseases do not “give time”, in the sense that they can be fatal in a few hours. The only way to prevent them is the vaccine, which must be done as soon as possible, at all ages, from newborn to adolescent.
“Therefore – he declared – the appeal to parents is that they are aware that vaccinations are an act of love for their child! And we pediatricians are ready and available to personally advise our clients. Each visit is an opportunity to vaccinate a child who has not yet been protected ”.
Currently, the meningoccal B vaccine is administered from two months of life following a 3 + 1 dose schedule. With the new vaccination calendar, which has yet to come out, we will move to a 2 + 1 card, but the importance of protecting the child as soon as possible will remain fundamental, by carrying out the vaccination before he can contract the disease. There remains an indication to vaccinate one-year-old children against type C meningococcus, then every 5 years.
Since, after the neonatal period, the second peak incidence of meningococcal meningitis and sepsis is adolescence, the hope is that adolescent anti-meningococcal vaccination coverage will increase, for all serogroups (B, C, A , Y, W135).
According to current legislation, the meningococcal B vaccine cannot be administered with other vaccinations while for the meningococcal C or tetravalent vaccine there is no contraindication to co-administration. This means that the anti-flu period represents an opportunity to be seized to protect children at 360.
“The period of the anti-influenza vaccination campaign – concluded the expert – represents an excellent opportunity to recommend all the other vaccinations, in particular even those against meningococcus B and C. I want to remember that children who get flu are also a source of contagion for the elderly. Protecting children therefore also means protecting grandparents and those who are more fragile “.
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