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The influenza vaccination campaign launched by the Tuscany region begins. The supply of vaccines is free for people over 65, for people in the risk categories, for health workers and, this year, for all blood donors.
The Asl Toscana center provided 353,000 doses of vaccine for a total amount of 2,012,100 euros. All the general practitioners and pediatricians (more than 1,300 in the AUSL Toscana centro) participated in the campaign, also for this year, with a lot of commitment and collaboration to ensure a large vaccination coverage.
During the flu vaccination campaign, vitamin D ampoules will be offered to the elderly, with the aim of promoting the prevention of fractures, the consequences of which are often very heavy for the elderly. Assuming vitamin D, muscle strength is improved and the frequency of accidental falls is reduced, especially during the winter months when, without exposure to the sun, the risk of hypovitaminosis is higher.
"It is only with the vaccine that the symptoms and risks can be reduced – emphasizes the director of health, Emanuele Gori – and that our health service offers citizens an important opportunity to avoid not only diseases, but also to limit the circulation of the virus, so as to protect "the whole community." In the last vaccination campaign (2017/2018) in the region of ASL Toscana centro, vaccination coverage among people aged 65 and more was equal to 57.12%.
I am already 125 thousand among all Italians who have been affected since the beginning of the epidemiological surveillance, approximately 71 thousand last week observed from 22 to 28 October. These are the data that emerge from the newsletter of the Influnet network coordinated by the Higher Institute of Health, with the support of the Ministry of Health and the contribution of white "sentinels", family doctors and pediatricians. choice of different regions.
According to the report, the activity of influenza viruses is at basic level in all Italian regions (Although, it was pointed out, not all the physicians involved in the surveillance made available the data collected).
The alarm of doctors: "Late vaccines" – "Family doctors should have had the flu by mid-October, but in many areas they have not yet been distributed. And some will have to wait 10 days. "To launch thealarm is the General Secretary of General Practitioners Fimmg, Silvestro Scotti, who denounced delays in vaccine deliveries in outpatient clinics of doctors in many parts of Italy, which were affected this year by the new convention, which would play a greater role in the vaccination campaign. But in these conditions, he warns, against the vaccination of the family doctor against influenza "You risk the hole in the water" and also counterproductive organizational "side effects".
"I'm waiting for them myself in Naples on November 5," says Scotti Allâ € ™ s AdnKronos Salute. And in other Italian ASL "there are colleagues who will receive them on November 12," adds the secretary, pointing out that the delay is not a small problem: once vaccinated, the patient is immune to after 15 days, then the period during which the infection can be contracted is extended . In addition, the time available to organize and virtually vaccinate is reduced for family physicians.
"We complain about the lack of coverage – Scotti observes – but then we have these problems likely to increase mistrust. More likely if, after the vaccine, you get sick before 15 days of vaccination. And this is a considerable damage, given the need to work to gain "suspicion" against the vaccinations developed during these years.
For the moment, says Scotti, "the most cautious and knowledgeable patients are already calling for vaccinations, but I can only vaccinate them after the delivery of the vaccine, trying to solve the organizational problems. created by the delay.From a practical point of view, for example, in my clinic, also taking into account the larger influx of winter months, I dedicate on Saturday to the vaccination in order to If the vaccine arrives in the second week of November, given the fact that the vaccination campaign ends on December 31st, the number of available weeks is reduced.We believe in this, we continue to believe it and we will do our duty, but this delay – he repeats – does not facilitate the task. "
Secretary Fimmg also notes another problem "organizational and beyond the control of family physicians", which is likely to "encourage anti-vax attitudes." We noticed – he reports – that ASLs choose trivalent vaccines more often than quadrivalents. Yet, in recent years, we have found that influenza has occurred with a variant of an antigen making the quadrivalent more useful for providing coverage. The trivalent is cheaper, but becomes a gamble: if the flu occurs without change, the bet is won and you are spared, but if it occurs with the change, even those who have been vaccinated could get sick. And this poses a serious problem of trust in vaccination. "" The choice of the vaccine, in my opinion – concludes Scotti – must take into account the work done to convince and win the trust, which is a fundamental capital to obtain good coverage " .
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