The vaccine to prevent shingles: the Longevitas Foundation campaign

Growing old, yes, but in the right way and paying attention to your health through healthy prevention practices

By Viviana Stazi

MILAN – Growing old, yes, but in the right way and paying attention to your health through healthy prevention practices.

The mission of the company can be summarized like this Longevitas Foundationwhich for this purpose is conducting a awareness campaign aimed at the over 65s. Among the primary tools in combating infectious diseases to which the elderly could be exposed are vaccines, including the one against the so-called St. Anthony’s Fire. It is from here that the first stage organized at Palazzo Lombardia by the Longevitas Foundation begins, which in the conference “Staying healthy thanks to vaccination prevention in adults: the example of the vaccine against Herpes Zoster” outlined the current panorama in Italy.

SHINGLES RESULTS FROM HERPES ZOOSTER

Dr. provided a general epidemiological picture of the pathology Giuseppe Bellelli, full professor of Geriatrics at the University of Milan-Bicocca: “Sshingles is a complication that derives from having previously come into contact with the chickenpox virus, Herpes Zoster indeed. It is estimated that approx 98% of the population has been exposed to this virus at a young age; we are talking about a virus that remains latent in the sensory ganglia and which can reawaken in the elderly due to the weakening of the immune defenses. The pathology in the over 65s is not only painful, but also has various types of complications, such as post-herpetic neuralgia and a loss of motor function. To combat such a clinical picture, it is better to focus on prevention, which is based on vaccines. Administration takes place in two doses, but unfortunately to date the adherence rates of the elderly population they are still too low, partly due to people’s hesitancy to get vaccinated.”

The criticality highlighted by Professor Bellelli was also underlined by Emanuele Monti, President of the IX Commission on Social Sustainability, Home and Family of the Lombardy Region, who during his speech in a room full of spectators also spoke about the importance of local medicine. “Adherence to campaigns against shingles is not enough. We need to involve mayors and third sector associations to have a completely free vaccination for citizens of the expected age cohort, which concerns those over 65. The Lombardy Region provides this type of administration to this segment of the population and we are working to invest even more so in prevention: every Euro spent in this field corresponds to three Euros saved by the National Health Service”.

THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF ITALIANS

In a country like ours, which has a high life expectancy – 81 years for men, 85 for women according to the 2023 Bes Report edited by Istat – and in which the elderly population is constantly growing in the face of the strong problem linked to the birth rate decline, ensuring the best possible quality of health becomes not only essential, but a priority. As he explained Eleonora Selvi, president of the Longevitas Foundation, “Aging requires an active and targeted response from health systems and vaccination prevention has a crucial role as it protects adults from pathologies that can have serious consequences, especially for the most fragile. There is still a lot of work to do, because we are far from the vaccination objectives we need to achieve; we need to remove obstacles and build awareness among people to make them understand that the vaccine is a very powerful tool in our hands. Furthermore, we help the National Health Service, because what we avoid spending on prevention can be invested in everyone’s health.”

THE ROLE OF GENERAL MEDICINE

General practitioners are always on the front line, an essential point of reference in the area for the preliminary management of certain diseases. The Herpes Zoster vaccine can now also be administered by family doctors, as recalled by Paola Pedrini, general secretary of Fimmg Lombardia. “It is important to enhance the role of the general practitioner in the overall management of the vaccination strategy,” underlined Dr. Pedrini. “Precisely the particular relationship of trust with the patients makes it crucial for the promotion, organization and facilitation of the prevention of pathologies with significant repercussions on the health of the community and consequently on the sustainability of the system”.

“IT IS ESSENTIAL TO TALK TO FAMILIES AND YOUNG PEOPLE”

Using vaccines therefore remains a primary path in protecting health. “Promoting vaccination practice among adults is essential to guarantee a healthier and more active population and is an investment in the sustainable future of our increasingly long-lived society,” added President Selvi, who then also focused on the upcoming educational meetings that will address the Longevitas Foundation: “We are working a lot on cardiological prevention. At the same time we carry out screening initiatives in collaboration with various universities and scientific societies. We are primarily aimed at the over 65 population, but we also aim at other age groups, precisely because longevity is something that is built correctly starting from the first years of life. It is essential to talk to families and young people to extend this culture of positive aging as much as possible.”