“The commitment of Fimp, the Italian Federation of Pediatricians, on vaccinations is total because the pediatrician deals with the child in his entirety, from disease prevention to diagnosis and treatment. Vaccination is essential to avoid dangerous diseases, but it is better if pediatricians administer it to their patients”. This was stated by Giuseppe Palena, regional secretary of Fimp Piedmont, on the occasion of the course ‘Family Pediatrics. The protagonist of vaccination recommendation’, organized by the federation as part of the ‘VaccinAzione’ project that took place in recent days in Turin.
“In Piedmont, vaccination prevention is patchy – explains Palena – The local health authorities with very high vaccination rates are those in which there is an agreement according to which the vaccination is administered by the child’s pediatrician in his own clinic, or within of the responsible ASL structure. “Where the local health authorities require the pediatrician to be the main actor and responsible for vaccinating their patients, the percentage of vaccination achieved is very high because the practice takes place within a relationship of trust and every doubt is clarified with simple language and data scientific studies that highlight the benefits of prevention compared to the risk of a serious disease”. Thus, “during the first health assessment – continues the specialist – both parents are informed about the advantages of the vaccine”.
Precisely for this reason, the “paediatrician’s training is fundamental: one must know everything about the vaccination being administered – warns Palena – also because, if the parents intend to only have the compulsory vaccines, they will proceed only with those. Seeing that the compulsory vaccines work, parents then tend to reassure themselves and be more willing to also consider the recommended vaccinations”, such as anti-meningococcal B which protects against a serious disease such as meningitis.
“From a health point of view, the recommendation is to consider all vaccinations useful – adds Renato Turra, provincial secretary of Fimp Turin – The difference between compulsory and recommended is only legislative: compulsory ones are necessary to be able to attend school”. Of course, in this context “the role of the pediatrician is fundamental”, especially for non-mandatory vaccinations such as anti-meningococcal B or anti-pneumococcal which, even according to the latest coverage data, always suffer more than compulsory ones .
“There is a segment of 5-10% of families in which we come up against ideological issues – observes Turra – As pediatricians, one of our fundamental tasks is to communicate with families with whom we have a relationship of trust”. With respect to information, “communication is bidirectional: we must answer questions, doubts and explain in simple words that are suitable for the interlocutors that, if serious diseases such as smallpox for example no longer exist, it is thanks to vaccinations”. It is a matter of clarifying what is found “on Dr. Google or in chats, giving practical examples, highlighting the risks of vaccination, which are negligible, compared to the health benefits not only for the child, but also for the community”.
On an issue such as the co-administration of multiple vaccines, a lever for increasing vaccination coverage, it should be remembered that “for example, doing 6 separate injections for a hexavalent vaccine would not be desirable. This practice does not in fact change the effectiveness of the individual vaccines. Administering multiple vaccines at the same time also has the advantage of reducing the number of injections and therefore the child’s discomfort and stress. After all, a child is always in contact with thousands of antigens, even just by going to the supermarket a single injection – concludes the pediatrician – is not contraindicated and does not increase side effects, indeed it seems to enhance the immune response”.
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