“New deal for relaunch in adults and seniors”

by time news

“Now more than ever there is a need for a ‘new deal’ for the relaunch of vaccinations for adults and the elderly, putting an end to long-standing issues amplified by Covid. The real change of gear will not be possible without a concrete push to ‘ computerization and digitization of the vaccine registry. This is also a lesson we have learned from the pandemic, let us not waste the opportunity to reflect on the centrality of prevention and the best strategies to relaunch it “. This is the appeal that comes from Roberto Bernabei, geriatrician and president of ‘Italia Longeva’, who today promoted the virtual workshop ‘Vaccinations of the elderly in the Covid era – Routine and innovative practices to guide change’.


“Vaccination hubs, ‘drive-in’ vaccinations, vaccination campers are just some of the solutions adopted in the Covid emergency which, due to their easy accessibility to citizens and the ability to rapidly vaccinate large numbers, could prove effective even for ‘ordinary’ vaccinations. of elderly adults (flu, pneumococcal pneumonia, herpes zoster), still far from reaching optimal coverage levels “, as highlighted by the first ‘Survey on vaccination of the elderly and the frail in the Covid era’, carried out by Italia Longeva, the association National Association for Aging and Active Longevity of the Ministry of Health and presented today at the workshop.

“Never as this year, vaccination has represented a call to arms necessary to protect those who are most fragile – underlined Bernabei – It is now necessary to take advantage of the good things that have been implemented at the local level to overcome traditional cultural and organizational barriers. and professionals that prevent vaccination from taking off and reaching the desired coverage for the protection of elderly and highly frail subjects “.

The survey, starting from a review of the scientific literature that identifies the most promising interventions for achieving good vaccination coverage among elderly adults, involved the prevention services of 9 regional realities covering a catchment area of ​​about 24 million. citizens, to deepen the potentially most effective experiences and the best solutions implemented in the field.

“Not only more adequate infrastructures and use of large spaces, but also greater accessibility of places for vaccination, expansion of the categories of actors involved in vaccination prevention (in addition to general practitioners, specialists and operators of hospital vaccination centers), administration of more vaccines to reduce access to facilities, enhancement of communication to citizens, even with personalized actions (active call): these are the interventions – the survey highlighted – in many cases already implemented for the anti-Covid vaccination campaign, deemed more effective for promoting compliance with vaccination and increasing coverage of elderly adults for vaccinations provided for by the Vaccination Plan and the Life Calendar “.

“We mainly have to fight some infections: flu, streptococcus pneumoniae, herpes zoster and I would add whooping cough, whose decennial recall is fundamental. In these fields we have very important technological evolutions of vaccines. On herpes zoster we have the traditional vaccine but a new vaccine that we were waiting for and which has a very high performance: from 96-97% efficacy. With a 4-year duration of 88% even in the elderly population “, concluded in his speech Paolo Bonanni, director of the Department of Sciences of health of the University of Florence.

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