Conversano (HappyAgeing): “Organizational innovation for vaccination”

“We have a vaccination plan with effective and free products, new vaccines against Herpes zoster and more and more effective, but we need new strategies. We need a vaccination register: we do not know the coverage for some vaccines. We need organizational innovation, with the active call via SMS to vaccination, but also technological and scientific innovation, the co-administration of anti-flu and anti-Covid “. So Michele Conversano, president of Cts HappyAgeing, in his report, this morning in Brindisi, at the event ‘Successful aging: role of vaccines and lifestyles’, organized by HappyAgeing (Italian Alliance for active aging) with the Mediterranean Diet Foundation , thanks to the patronage of the Municipality of Brindisi and Federsanità Anci Puglia and with the non-conditioning contribution of Sanofi. The initiative, of comparison and in-depth analysis on the importance of the personalization of vaccination in the elderly patient as the main tool for active aging, saw the participation of: Raffaele Antonelli Incalzi, director of Uoc Gerontology, Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital of Rome and former president of Sigg (Italian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology); Stefania Maggi, president of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation and CNR research director of the Neuroscience Institute, Padua-Aging section; Pietro Luigi Lopalco, full professor of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Salento; Nehludoff Albano, section Promotion of health and well-being, Puglia Region. “HappyAgeing – explains Conversano – was born in 2014 to promote policies and initiatives in our country aimed at protecting the health of the elderly and developing the indications of the European Commission on the Active aging. Federsanità Anci, the Italian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology, the Italian Society of Hospital and Territory Geriatrics, the Italian Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Italian Society of Hygiene, the Spi Cgl trade unions are part of the Active Aging Alliance. Fnp Cisl, Uil Pensionati and the Acli Elderly and Retired Federation “. Speaking of vaccination coverage, “we only know that of the anti-flu for the over 65 which is around 50% (target is 75%), but for pneumococcus – observes the president of HappyAgeing – we do not know. There are only data of some regions: it does not exceed 20% (target 75%). There are no data for Herpes zoster either: the target is 50% and we are at 5-10%. This is not coverage, it is individual prevention ” . On the question of administering multiple vaccines together in a single session, “last year we started well with the flu (65%), but then it was decided that it could not be co-administered with the third” anti- Covid “and 7 percentage points of coverage were lost”, remarks Conversano. Again: the active call to vaccination “is a Lea”, he specifies, an essential level of assistance. “We must call those who have the right to vaccination – he emphasizes – If we do not call them, a right is lost. A very nice study shows that the SMS sent the day before with the request for confirmation has increased vaccination coverage by 11%”. Many initiatives have been promoted by the Alliance for Active Aging. “We have made a series of position papers on vaccination in adulthood, the co-administration of Covid and flu, up to the General States scheduled for next September 15, so that these issues enter the party programs”, reports Conversano. Among the proposals to innovate the organization of the vaccination service, the active call and proximity vaccination stand out, ie in pharmacies, pediatricians, general practitioners, in the workplace, in hypermarkets. HappyAgeing also proposes to evaluate the possibility of timetables to facilitate booking with less waiting and co-administration, to reduce the number of accesses. “It is also absolutely necessary – concludes the president – a monitoring system on waiting and booking lists. For Covid we had real-time coverage data, which we know nothing about the others”.