Vaccine prevention, an important aspect of protecting the health of women and children during pregnancy on which it is important to work to increase awareness. This is what emerged today at the conference “Vaccination during pregnancy. The importance of primary prevention” held at the Senate on the initiative of Senator Maria Domenica Castellone in collaboration with Fondazione Onda ETS and SIGO – Italian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics. During the event, the results of a mapping, conducted in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Departments of the Bollino Rosa hospitals, were presented, aimed at understanding the offer of services dedicated to primary prevention during pregnancy and the data of a survey carried out by Fondazione Onda ETS in collaboration with the Elma Research Institute, which investigated the attitude of pregnant women and new mothers towards primary prevention, with a focus on vaccinations during pregnancy. The project, carried out with the unconditional contribution of Pfizer, also includes the dissemination of the information leaflet aimed at women “Prevention during pregnancy. An opportunity for current and future health.”
The survey involved, through online interviews, 300 pregnant women or new mothers (mostly first-time mothers), mainly workers and with a high level of education. During pregnancy – emerges from the survey – women are mainly followed by a gynecologist in private practice (65 percent of cases), who represents an important point of reference for them. The partner is an extremely present figure in sharing healthcare decisions. 22 percent of the women interviewed adhere to the COVID-19 vaccination, 33 percent to the flu vaccination, 42 percent to the tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough vaccination. More than half of the sample knows about vaccines: only 1 in 4 women knows about a maximum of one vaccine available for pregnant women including Covid, DTPa and flu vaccination. Often, however, the topic of primary prevention in pregnancy is more easily associated with carrying out genetic tests/prenatal screening, a healthy lifestyle and carrying out regular clinical checks than with the concept of vaccination. The main reasons that push pregnant women to get vaccinated are: the desire to protect the health of the child (53 percent), the perception of exposure to the risk of contracting the disease (48 percent), combined with medical advice (37 percent). hundred). The survey shows that 92 percent of women wish to receive information from healthcare professionals, who also play a key role in this respect: 85 percent of them would like to receive information from the gynecologist, while 33 percent would like to receive it by the general practitioner.
«The results of the survey on vaccination prevention during pregnancy present a picture that can be improved which requires providing an adequate response. The need to increase awareness of the vaccines available during pregnancy emerges as fundamental, treating the topic as an integral part of primary prevention and raising awareness above all of the high risks associated with pathologies and the low risks of vaccinations – declares Francesca Merzagora, president of the Onda ETS Foundation – . It is also necessary to increase adherence to vaccines, with the involvement of institutions to raise awareness on the issue at a high level and of health professionals (primarily the gynecologist), for targeted information that can reassure and motivate women. Finally, it is necessary to simplify access to vaccinations, i.e. facilitate the booking process, reduce waiting times, offer the possibility of having vaccines near the residence or at the same site as other visits and tests, to carry them out at the same time”.
«Vaccination is a very important public health tool in general and especially for fragile subjects – he declares Roberta Siliquini, president of SITI, Italian Hygiene Society -. We only always think of the elderly and the sick, forgetting that newborns, by their nature, are fragile subjects as they lack the ability to respond adequately to infectious insults. It is therefore necessary to protect them immediately also through vaccination of the future mother who will be able to transmit the necessary antibodies. There are many pathologies for which we have safe and effective vaccines available during pregnancy: influenza, whooping cough/diphtheria/tetanus, Sars CoV2 and respiratory syncytial virus. For the latter, perhaps little known but extremely widespread and which causes a significant number of hospital admissions even in the first months of life, we have vaccines and monoclonal antibodies available.”
During the event, Onda ETS Foundation delivered parchments to the hospitals that participated in the mapping as a thank you for their participation and for their attention and commitment to the topic of primary prevention in pregnancy. The mapping involved a sample of 290 hospitals with the Pink Sticker that have an internal Gynecology and Obstetrics department and of these 210 structures across the country participated. Almost all declared that they have a Birth Center within them (only 12 do not have one), with a volume of activity that exceeds 500 births per year and the majority respects the “corners” of primary prevention, that is, it guarantees women specific educational interventions on correct nutrition (over 90 percent, 196 hospitals) and promotes physical activity during pregnancy (88 percent, 185 hospitals), beyond the information provided during outpatient visits.
The widespread commitment among hospitals in ensuring correct care takes place mostly through the birth accompaniment course although, in many cases, other types of dedicated activities are organized (e.g. pregnancy agenda, counseling with a nutritionist, information campaigns anti-alcohol). Good coverage emerges for the treatment of anxiety and depression in pregnancy (78 percent, 165 hospitals) and this figure denotes how primary prevention by hospitals also takes place with a view to catching the first signs of psychopathologies in pregnancy. In most cases, vaccinations are postponed to the local area: 118 hospitals out of 210 do not provide the service internally. Of these 118 hospitals, few do not prepare useful material to provide information on where to go at a local level to access the vaccination service (22 hospitals). Of the hospitals that directly offer a vaccination service (total 92 facilities), the majority also have a clinic dedicated to pregnant women (50 hospitals).
«On a maternal-fetal level, vaccines represent an important tool for the prevention of congenital defects and maternal-fetone-natal diseases. The active offer (adequate information, written indication in the medical record) significantly increases vaccination coverage”, comments Vito Trojano, President of SIGO, Italian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics. “The importance of prevention during pregnancy is now widely recognised. I applaud all the initiatives aimed at raising awareness of the healthcare component, easier access to services and more extensive information for women for an increasingly free and informed choice”, concludes Maria Rosaria Campitiellohead of technical secretariat, Ministry of Health.
