The comment of the head of the Infectious Diseases, Vaccinations and Prevention Performance Structure of the Welfare General Directorate of the Lombardy Region, on the occasion of the meeting “Let’s take care of meningitis: act today to protect tomorrow. Stories that help you choose
“In Lombardy, children receive the meningococcus B vaccine at the age of two months, which is one of the two strains circulating in Europe and Italy in particular, and with three doses we have 95% coverage. After one year of life, the vaccine for meningococcus C, the other circulating strain, is offered, with a coverage of 94-95%”. As Catia Rosanna Borriellohead of the Infectious Diseases, Vaccinations and Prevention Performance Structure of the General Directorate of Welfare of the Lombardy Region, on the occasion of the meeting “Pre-Take Meningitis: Act Today to Protect Tomorrow. Stories that help you chooseopen to the public, today in Milan at the Sala Medicinema of the Niguarda Hospital in Milan and promoted by Adnkronos Comunicazione, with the unconditional support of Gsk.
“In adolescence, more precisely at the age of 12 (instead of 16, as happens in the other Regions) – Borriello details – the quadrivalent vaccine Acwy is offered, which was once called ‘traveller’s vaccine’ because it protects against strains circulating especially in Africa and in the United States. However, today’s young people are travellers, they go to study and take holidays abroad, for which a vaccine has been introduced, available to everyone and offered free of charge, which also protects against less common strains in Europe “.
“The commitment of the Region is very high – he underlines – we work constantly to actively promote vaccination and to try to recover all the children and young people who, for whatever reason, did not show up for the vaccination call. If the child does not show up for the first vaccination appointment, two reminders by letter follow and, subsequently, the child’s pediatrician is contacted to try to understand why he missed the appointment set for the administration of the vaccine and asking the child’s doctor to promote vaccination. Meningitis is an extremely rare disease but in its rarity it is extremely serious – remember -. So the importance of preventive vaccination is not given so much by the number of cases, but by the seriousness of the disease, which unfortunately proves to be fatal in a considerable number of patients”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com