Ukrainian refugees No Vax: “risk of outbreaks” of Covid, measles, polio

The ministry has swabs and vaccines for Ukrainian refugees arriving in Italy, but there is also the danger of measles and polio

Health Minister Roberto Speranza, through a circular, asks the Regions to ensure “the necessary surveillance, prevention and vaccination prophylaxis activities“with particular attention” to the early identification of people with special needs and specific vulnerabilities “such as unaccompanied foreign minors, pregnant women, and single-parent families.

In particular, the ministry recommends offer vaccinationin accordance with the national plan, “to all subjects from 5 years of age who declare that they are not vaccinated or are not in possession of documentation certifying the vaccination, including the booster dose for subjects from 12 years of age “.

The Regions say they are “ready” to do their part but at the same time they ask for “a further technical and political studyon the part of the management of prevention and health care, starting with vaccinations and tampons “. And the criticisms are various. Covid vaccination rate in Ukrainein fact, it is among the lowest in Europe, reaching the About 35%. For this, it is necessary “to ensure that on the health level there are no spread of contagion”, underline the regions.

Here because refugees arriving in Italy “will have to do quarantine and swabs” to avoid the risk “that outbreaks of contagion will arise or variants that we do not know will arrive”. And an appeal to their compatriots who arrive in Italy ad join the vaccination campaign also comes fromChristian Association of Ukrainians present in our country. “It is to ensure their safety and the safety of the Italian people who host them”, President Oles Horodetskyy told LaPresse. “In Ukraine as in Italy – he explains – there is a part of the population who did not want to be vaccinated but many have had covid”. According to Horodetskyy, the fault lies “with the Russian Orthodox Church which did everything to prevent vaccination” while the Greek Catholic Church “offered its basilica to carry out vaccines” and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church also expressed its support. In fact, there are many Ukrainians who oppose vaccines and tampons for religious reasons.

Ukraine, for refugees there is not only the risk of Covid but also of other diseases

Offer refugees arriving from Ukraine at war with Russia not only anti-Covid vaccination, but also routine prophylaxis because there is a risk of “epidemic outbreaks of preventable diseases from vaccine in reception facilities “: it is one of the recommendations contained in the circular with which the Ministry of Health provides the ASL with the” first indications “in relation” to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and in anticipation of the consequent migratory phenomena towards our Village”.

With regard to routine vaccinations, the Department’s Health Prevention and Health Planning Directorates “report significant critical issues due to low vaccination coverage and recent occurrence of outbreaks, such as the measles outbreak in 2019 and the outbreak of polio started in 2021 and is ongoing in the country.

This situation has its roots in years of organizational and vaccine procurement difficulties, as well as in a long history of vaccination hesitation in the country, widely spread both in the general population and among health professionals. In addition to representing an obstacle to adhering to the vaccine offer during the reception phase – the ministry warns – this can further increase the risk of epidemic outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases developing in the structures dedicated to welcoming migrants, already favored from the precarious sanitation conditions associated with the crisis and with the migratory phenomenon itself “.