PALERMO (ITALPRESS) – Insist on vaccination of the adult (particularly in the over-65 age group) and frail population to cover and fight emerging diseases such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (Rsv) or Herpes zoster: this is one of the messages coming from Palermo, during the 57th National Congress of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (Siti). “We want to network so that prevention reaches all citizens equally: we have many tools for the prevention of infectious diseases in the elderly and frail individuals,” said Siti President Roberta Siquilini. It is very important to vaccinate against diseases that we know very well such as influenza, Covid, pneumococcal disease, but it is equally important that the vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (Rsv) is also recognized soon in Italy: let’s not forget then the vaccination against shingles, which is extremely painful and frequent when the immune defenses drop. In addition, in people who are already ill, it causes an increase in hospitalizations and a more negative course of the underlying disease. “Taking a general point on the progress of the Siti congress, Siquilini reports that “the work is going very well and a lot of feedback is positive: there are great opportunities for interaction on the topic of prevention, with the general directions given by the Ministry of Health, the Department of Prevention and the Higher Institute of Health.””For us it is a wonderful opportunity to participate in the Siti congress,” stresses Fabio Landazabal, president of Gsk Italia and of the Farmindustria prevention group. “We bring innovations in the field of prevention on those diseases that are predictable in both healthy individuals and chronic patients. It is very interesting to see how the hygienists want to bring these vaccines throughout Italy: the shingles vaccine is already available, because it is part of the National Plan, while as for the Rsv vaccine we are waiting for it to be integrated into the calendar so it can be available to all those at risk.”For Elisa Calabrò, professor of Public Hygiene at the Department of Life Sciences at the Catholic University, “the impact of vaccination on the elderly and frail population has not only a social and personal value, but also concerns the economic and sustainability dimension for the National Health Service: at-risk individuals are a priority and today we have the weapons at our disposal to meet them. Shingles vaccination still imposes a major challenge on us in terms of coverage to be achieved, while against Rsv we have available a vaccine that to date can be effective for three consecutive seasons. “On this vaccine, the professor adds, “we have developed in collaboration with public health experts from other universities and representatives of scientific societies the first High technology assessment (Hta, ed.) report: through this prevention tool we have managed to demonstrate how this vaccination is recommendable for the adult population. We hope that the scientific evidence that supports us can actually lead to certain decision-making processes in favor of our population: the National Plan for Vaccine Prevention 2023-2025 gives us for the first time the opportunity to decouple the vaccine calendar from the actual Plan, so we hope that in light of the evidence produced, this vaccination can also enter the calendar.”
– Italpress photo -(ITALPRESS).
