Adherence to vaccination against is poor COVID-19 In the Sannio after the end of the pandemic. In 2023, just under 8% of the population continued to be vaccinated, so that not even the national average of 13% was reached, which earned Italy the black jersey for vaccination coverage. Yet the virus continues to circulate and pose a serious threat to the most vulnerable.
According to data released by the Higher Institute of Health, last winter, 10,000 deaths and 82,000 hospitalizations were recorded in Italy, which mainly affected the elderly, chronically ill and immunosuppressed people, in most cases unvaccinated. In fact, just over 2 million doses in total have been administered across the entire national territory. A figure that has failed to meet the objectives set by the Ministry of Health and which, in all likelihood, is not destined to increase in the future. In practice, according to experts, the vaccination against Covid should follow the same procedure as the flu vaccine, which is administered every year in autumn by general practitioners to patients who have exceeded the threshold of 65 years and who have previous and chronic pathologies and comorbidities.
In 2023, in the province, during the Christmas period, there was a very high incidence of Covid and flu, which travel on parallel tracks. Family doctors had reported that they worked 24 hours a day to try to keep the situation under control, which had never been so critical even in the worst period of the pandemic. The flu manifested itself with very high fever, breathing difficulties and intestinal disorders. At that stage, many patients, who had already had the flu vaccine, had asked to also have the Covid vaccine and the local health authority had reactivated the vaccination center in via Mascellaro. Between Christmas and New Year the joint circulation of the flu syndrome and Covid had reached its maximum peak, which also increased hospitalizations for cases of pneumonia. However, what was called “the perfect storm” dissipated within a few weeks, without serious consequences for the population. Indeed, the symptoms of Covid were far less severe than those of seasonal flu.
Once the danger was over, the vaccination campaign promoted by the ASL was stopped almost immediately, because the population is now less willing to get vaccinated, very often for fear of certainly temporary but annoying reactions that occurred following the administration of the doses. Currently, the Anglo-Swedish company producing Astrazeneca has just announced its intention to start a process of global withdrawal of the vaccine, now little in demand and no longer updated, to replace it with a new mRNA vaccine. The Italian societies of preventive medicine and infectious and tropical diseases have drawn up a joint document to encourage wider vaccination coverage in the next season. Among the proposals is the development of different vaccines capable of responding to the vaccination needs of different categories of citizens to allow healthcare workers to choose the product most suited to the patient’s health conditions. In practice, by having all the time necessary to test the preparations and make them effective but with less impact on patients’ health, manufacturing companies can perfect the vaccines and adapt them to the different population categories.
According to experts, we must not lower our guard, because the risk of a resurgence of the disease is real and it cannot be passed off as a viral form similar to a normal seasonal flu, as it is not.
Nor should the effects of be underestimated long Covid which can last much longer than the expected two months, even when the infection has a mild and benign course. The now generalized tendency not to vaccinate is considered an attitude that exposes the most fragile to the risk of hospitalization and the prospect of death from serious complications.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
The morning
