Vaccinations for both Covid and seasonal flu began on October 16th. The campaign aims to increase coverage for people at high risk, of all ages, due to pathological, physiological conditions (such as pregnancy) or work exposure, as well as of course those over sixty. This year too, the Ministry has included healthy children aged 6 months to 6 years in the category of people to whom the free vaccine is recommended. The objective is to reach 75% vaccination coverage in citizens aged 65 and over (age group for which Emilia-Romagna is in first place among the large Italian regions in terms of percentage of coverage), to improve vaccination coverage in healthcare personnel and children at risk of complications due to the presence of pathologies.
To delve deeper into the importance of vaccination, we conducted three interviews with professionals from the University Hospital of Ferrara, working in the field in different sectors.
The last conversation is with the Dr. Marco Lebanonre (in the picture), Director of the Infectious Diseases and Viral Immunodeficiencies Operational Unit of S.Anna.
Why are flu and anti-covid vaccinations important, not only for the weakest groups but for the entire population?
“Because they limit the community circulation of these highly spreading viruses, the capacity for contagion, the development of diseases linked to the direct action of the virus, overlapping bacterial complications or by decompensating pre-existing diseases with a high social prevalence (such as diabetes, cardiovascular pathologies or tumor forms) , which have a heavy impact on the general population. Vaccinations act, in particular, by reducing severe forms, hospitalization and mortality, especially in people at greatest risk such as the elderly, frail, pregnant women and healthcare workers.”.
What complications can be avoided through seasonal vaccinations?
“The complications linked to the primary action of the virus are those, in particular, affecting the respiratory system, from upper respiratory tract infection to massive bronchopneumonia with acute respiratory failure, which requires hospitalization in Intensive Care. Furthermore, a patient with a current form of flu is at greater risk of contracting an infection such as pneumococcal or staphylococcus aureus pneumonia. In other cases, the influenza infection can directly affect the central nervous system, resulting in encephalitis. Influenza forms involving the cardiovascular system causing myocarditis, myositis or rhabdomyolysis have also been reported. Other extreme infectious pathologies, again linked to seasonal viral infections, are represented by multi-organ failure, with high mortality, with simultaneous respiratory, hepatic, renal and cerebral involvement. We have had the opportunity to observe these aspects, with different incidence, also in COVID in relation to the degree of vaccination of the population and the circulating variants; this is why in the latter case the anti-SARS-CoV2 vaccination, updated to the current circulating viral strains, becomes fundamental”.
Why are vaccinations important for all healthcare workers?
“Health workers perform a crucial social function in the management, control and treatment of contagious infectious pathologies, such as viral ones, if they fail the entire health-social system is affected, putting entire sectors of our National Health Service in difficulty and sometimes in crisis.”.