Baldo: “Important covid vaccine but don’t forget the other vaccinations”

The Covid 19 pandemic has drastically slowed vaccinations for all other diseases since the immunization campaign against Sars-CoV-2 is largely employing health personnel who in normal times are dedicated to the calendar of first doses and boosters. This was underlined by Vincenzo Baldo, Professor of Hygiene at the University of Padua: “The pandemic has certainly had its impact in closing vaccination cycles with a differentiation between the various periods. In the period of complete lockdown there was difficulty in getting children to be vaccinated as well as adults, the elderly and frail subjects as there was a reduction not in the supply but in what was the possibility of vaccination. When, on the other hand, there was a reduction in the numbers of Covid, obviously it was possible to start again but we found ourselves with a bit of delay in reaching the important goals they had set “. Covid epidemic was important both in a positive and negative sense, observes the professor who adds: “In a positive sense it reminded us of old ways of mass vaccinations but it also projected us completely towards Covid, making us slow down against many other diseases that are equally important, especially when we get out of this situation “. Among the vaccinations that have been delayed due to the epidemic there is also that against meningitis” for which – recalls Baldo – there are various types of vaccines that they allow us to protect ourselves against the strains that are important to humans (A, C, W, Y, B). We had started in the child with the pediatric vaccination for B, but obviously the path has slowed down a bit. For meningitis, pediatric vaccination is absolutely important without forgetting the reminders in adolescence in which the use of the quadrivalent is important “. And the problem of missed vaccinations concerns everyone: children, adolescents, the elderly and fragile categories, but also many healthy adults. “It is important to vaccinate fragile people for Covid but we must remember all the other vaccinations. A fragile person – explains Baldo – has concomitant pathologies, pathologies that increase the risk of serious complications when the subject is infected by certain pathogens. Vaccinations against herpes zoster, influenza, pneumococcus, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, but also against meningitis are very important for these patients. Fragile people are a significant portion of the population that we must somehow reach. Already in a normal situation it is something that happened with difficulty, now it is something to implement. The good thing about the pandemic is that it has perhaps brought greater awareness of the strength of vaccinations. The methods we implement to reach all people for the anti Covid vaccination could be translated into what is the recovery of vaccination coverage also and above all in fragile subjects, as well as pediatrics and the elderly. It is a challenge that we are trying to face ”, concludes the professor.