2023-09-20 12:19:00
If until January of this year the anti-Herpes zoster vaccinations in the age cohorts involved in the program were really reduced, thanks to a boost from general medicine, in synergy with the general management of the ASL City of Turin, there has been a real ‘boom’ in administrations. Compared to the previous 3 years, in the period January-August 2023 alone, the city of Mole becomes the capital of the prevention of shingles, with a more than tripled number of vaccination doses administered and an increase of 354.82% among doctors who participated in the project. The increase was observed in the different age cohorts involved in recent years (from 1952 to 1958) and in the frail (COPD and cardiovascular diseases) in the shingles prevention program. The data, collected thanks to the activity of 117 family doctors, emerged from the conference ‘The results of an initiative medicine project for vaccination against Herpes zoster in the Piedmont Region; the local protagonists in adult vaccinations’, which took place in Turin.
The Turin project – explains a note – demonstrates that it is possible to bring prevention close to the citizen and that, by making access to vaccinations easier with simple and dedicated opportunities for vaccination prevention, the results of ‘opportunistic and initiative’ programs improve for vaccination administration. “Our project highlights once again the role of the general practitioner and his characteristics of capillarity, accessibility, relationship of trust – states Paolo Morato, Fimmg Piedmont Vaccine area representative and scientific manager of the project – But above all, it shows clearly there is an ever-increasing awareness among doctors of the importance of initiative medicine in the prevention of diseases that can be prevented by vaccinating their patients”.
The initiative, also taking advantage of the tools offered by the Piedmontese School of Training in General Medicine, was born with a view to helping the professional to ensure that vaccination is part of the overall systematic management of chronic and elderly patients. “The project – continues Morato – created a network between general practitioners” in a “proactive way: the doctor felt involved and stimulated to achieve an objective. The review and support activity of the tutors, the tools provided, the dialogue with the institutions, the discussion on the methods of organization – which are the pillars of the project – have certainly had an important role in achieving the result”.
Today the reactivation of the Herpes virus infection can be “prevented with a specific vaccination”, underlines Lorenza Ferrara, director of Seremi-ASL Alessandria. This practice “joins the many prevention opportunities that can be offered to elderly people and, more generally, to subjects at risk, as is done for influenza and pneumococcus. The initiative of general medicine, which has led to raising the coverage thresholds in the birth cohorts affected by the project, with a clear increase in coverage – he comments – proving how the involvement of the family doctor is a fundamental contribution in the diffusion of this good prevention practice. It is only thanks to the It is through integration and collaboration between the different figures involved in the prevention and treatment of patients that optimal results can be achieved”.
For zoster, in particular – continues the note – attention must be paid to elderly subjects and those with comorbidities that can increase the risk of re-ignition of the latent varicella-zoster virus infection in the roots of the ganglia of the nervous system. The incidence of Herpes zoster increases considerably after the age of 50. The incidence is higher in adults who have undergone a hematopoietic cell transplant, a solid tumor transplant or those suffering from malignant neoplasms. For this reason it is important to protect those at high risk, due to age or fragility, as can happen for those diagnosed with diabetes, cancer, cardiological, respiratory and chronic rheumatological problems.
“The contribution of general practitioners – declares Stefano Taraglio, health director of the ASL City of Turin – favors the synergy between health structures and local medicine and further brings the healthcare offer closer by tailoring it to the needs of citizens”. The Turin vaccination project has shown that “if you want, you can – observes Mara Scagni, regional secretary of Cittadinanzattiva Piemonte – The recipe is to all work in an integrated network and offer citizens information and ease of access. The result is all the more effective as those who are closest to the citizen, such as the general practitioner, are primarily committed to promoting it. But the national objective of 50% is still far away in Piedmont. Pilot and experimental projects like these are therefore welcome, which translate into equal opportunities throughout the regional territory”.
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