Rome, April 28 (beraking latest news Health) – The Covid-19 pandemic has brought health care back to the center of the public debate and with it the importance of the tools that can best protect it, vaccines. If today, however, attention is paid more to vaccines against Sars-CoV-2 and its variants, the scientific community and institutions are gearing up to prevent new infections that could endanger the health of the community. The main point of reference for a massive and safe prevention work is the widest possible implementation of vaccinations, with particular attention to the frail immunosuppressed adult patient and to those over 65 years old. The Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit) has dedicated a consensus scientific document to these most at risk categories, presented at a conference on the subject, organized by Aristea, with the non-conditioning contribution of GSK.
In the last 14 months, the other diseases besides Covid have not diminished, on the contrary, they have worsened. At various stages, most of the resources were invested in the emergency caused by the pandemic, but it is necessary to regain attention in the face of other pathologies. “We must pay attention to all ages of life, especially the elderly, but also to adults not yet in the third age, and not only by administering the anti-flu vaccine, because today we have many other vaccines available thanks to the technologies that have allowed so many innovations “, underlined Giovanni Rezza, Director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health.
“Covid-19 – he continued – has demonstrated the development of technology in vaccines and continuous scientific progress. Now work is being done to update the 2017-19 plan, which provides for vaccines offered free of charge and actively in the essential levels of assistance. Sometimes it is raised. the debate on the real effectiveness of vaccines: in any case, the balance is always positive, given that vaccines still make it possible to protect the health and sometimes the lives of many people; moreover, the benefit is also economic, as they allow for a fewer hospitalizations, drug use, lost work days, misuse of antibiotics. Among the most recent innovations there is the new vaccine against zoster, a disease that can have very serious long-term consequences; we have vaccines against it. pneumococcus increasingly effective; for adolescents then there is the vaccine against HPv, whose administration has decreased in this period of health emergency but it is not necessary to know ttovaluated “, he concludes.
The consensus wants to propose a calendar and useful information to all adult patients who may need the various vaccinations, integrating and supporting the Ministry’s vaccine plan. It thus becomes a specific reference for those suffering from frailty deriving from chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes, renal failure: vaccines also become a tool for precision medicine.
“Fragile patients are those most exposed to infections – highlighted Andrea Gori, Director of Uoc Infectious Diseases, Irccs Ca’Granda Foundation, Maggiore Policlinico hospital, Milan -. Among these, the immunocompromised are the most affected and differ in different categories according to the origin of the immudepression. The particular attention for these subjects is not only due to the fragility itself, but also to the impossibility of giving them some vaccines, such as live attenuated ones, just as has happened up to now for herpes zoster, a problem that will be overcome with the new vaccine“.
“Among frail subjects, particular attention should be paid to those who have HIV infection, for whom vaccinations are recommended more than in the general population, as in the case of antimeningococcal B or anti-pneumococcal, as well as the anti-pneumococcal vaccination itself. zoster – commented Silvia Nozza, San Raffaele hospital, Milan -. As for the anti Sars-CoV-2 vaccines in subjects with HIV we still know little: in general, vaccination is recommended; in the category of extremely fragile subjects, characterized by mainly cardiovascular and neoplastic comorbidities, mRna vaccination is recommended. However, it is important to underline that there is no contraindication from the point of view of safety for all types of vaccination in HIV-positive subjects “.
Among the main innovations proposed at the conference was the new vaccine for herpes zoster, the result of many years of research and already used in the United States with over 38 million doses administered. The disease consists in the reactivation of the chickenpox virus and is very common, as it affects more than 80% of the population, also revealing itself to be a public health problem. The vaccine available to date was a live attenuated virus, not usable in immunosuppressed patients. The new sub-unit vaccine is a very important step forward especially for people over 65, given that zoster is a very frequent pathology in the adult population and with serious complications.
“Finally, the vaccine for shingles is also available in our country – said Roberto Ieraci, Scientific Referent for vaccinations Asl Rm1 Group vaccination strategies Lazio Region-. It is highly innovative and particularly useful, since it addresses a disease that can be disabling for complications such as post herpetic neuralgia or ocular shingles. We now obtain a highly effective vaccine, which lasts over time, which prevents clinical manifestation in 95% of cases and post-herpetic neuralgia in a very high percentage of cases. Furthermore, for this disease there is no satisfactory therapy, neither for the clinical manifestation of the infection, nor for its complications. I hope that this vaccine will be given to family doctors to reach every patient “.
“Accurate planning and verification of vaccination rates are essential for an effective vaccination strategy”, underlined Elena Carnevali, Parent Pd in the XII Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber, recalling that “vaccination coverage is a pillar of public health and tool with the best cost-benefit ratio, given the effects that vaccines have on avoidable diseases and the increasingly tailor-made approach they can offer. Every time we invest in vaccines we have the opportunity to have a revenue of 2 euros for each euro invested. A study by the Sacred Heart has shown that if we could enroll 900 thousand more people on influenza vaccination we would save 450 million, which could be used for further investments in health care. Another important point for the health of the future and of which little is said is the electronic health record: for now it involves 32 million citizens, but should reach 60 million ni, as it allows a close link between doctor, patient and specialist; it is an investment that I hope, as was the case for the electronic medical record, will materialize in a short time, thanks also to the resources of the NRP “, he concludes.