Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

[Giuseppe]

Complete data set is available at: http://www.iss.it/binary/iflu/cont/Italia2009_44.pdf - ISS / Ministry of Health.

Updated at November 4, 2009.

(Trend for Influenza-like illnes (ILI) incidence among population: comparative trends for different seasons; red curve represents current season (2009/2010)).

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

It looks like the rate has doubled in the last week.

How much vaccine is available in Italy?

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

It looks like the rate has doubled in the last week.

How much vaccine is available in Italy?

To date, in Italy there are an estimated number of 2,5 million of doses of an adjuvanted vaccine. Of these, as for Nov. 1st, 2009, only 41,000 have been inoculated.

The vaccine is delivered in multi-doses vials and in pre-filled syringes.

At the end of November, Ministry of Health predicted an overall amount of doses of less than four millions.

Italy has around 60 millions of residents.

Vaccination campaign is somewhat disrupted by a devoluted public health care system, with adds bureaucracy and time to put into effectiveness every decision taken at central level.

Currently, a lot of public health care physicians refuses to get flu shot and make advocacy to their patients against the vaccines about the alleged danger of adjuvants (MF59 for example or squalene).

This puts in jeopardy an already confused and chaotic campaign and bad information provided by mass-media.


Data about amount of doses is available at Italian Ministry of Health.

Here I present an extract from yesterday (Nov. 4) press release:

Full text: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=314284&postcount=129

Source Document: http://www.ministerosalute.it/imgs/C_17_comunicati_2525_testo.rtf

(...)
Vaccinazione della popolazione

• Distribuzione
  • Continua la distribuzione dei vaccini alla Regioni, iniziata il 12 ottobre. Con la terza distribuzione, che si concluder? nel fine settimana saranno distribuite alle Regioni complessivamente quasi 2,5 milioni di dosi.
  • Ricordiamo che il Ministero, in base a quanto comunicato dall?azienda produttrice del vaccino pandemico sulla disponibilit? delle dosi, ha predisposto un piano di distribuzione dettagliato per Regioni fino al 20 novembre 2009. In particolare il piano prevede che entro la fine di novembre le Regioni avranno ricevuto complessivamente 3.739.351 dosi di vaccino in vari tipi di confezionamento.
• Vaccinati
  • In base ai dati pervenuti all?Istituto superiore di sanit? sono state vaccinate al 1? novembre oltre 41 mila persone. In particolare le Regioni sono state sollecitate a vaccinare con la maggiore rapidit? le donne al secondo e terzo trimestre di gravidanza e i soggetti dai 6 mesi ai 64 anni appartenenti alle categorie a rischio per patologie preesistenti, con priorit? assoluta per i bambini.

(...)
-
-----

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

Thank you Ironorehopper.

Are pregnant women, children, and young adults at the top of the priority list for vaccine?

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

Thank you Ironorehopper.

Are pregnant women, children, and young adults at the top of the priority list for vaccine?

Pregnant women at second and third trimester of pregnancy, children and adult under 65 years of age with underlying conditions are at top of priority group, after HCWs.

Healthy children and young adult with no underlying condition (established in a list provided by Ministry of Health) have been scheduled to vaccinate at the beginning of 2010.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

Since most of the persons who are at risk for novel H1N1 will not receive a vaccination during this wave, what are the plans to prevent serious illness?

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

Since most of the persons who are at risk for novel H1N1 will not receive a vaccination during this wave, what are the plans to prevent serious illness?

At this stage, no specific plan has been developed for reducing the intensity of spread of influenza among otherwise healthy young adults.

Taken into account the poor hygiene and maintenance of main train and buses communters' services, with overcrowded vehicle and long travel duration, people continues to be packed for hours in scarcely ventilated environments, leaving space for further and rapid spread of H1N1 2009 as well as other respiratory pathogens.

Counter-information activity is noticed in some workplace, with individual or member of small Unions' representatives are cleary spreading ''rumor and hoaxes'' among unsafe vaccine components (such as thimerosal), with workers scared enough to refuse to seek the inoculation.

Finally, I enclose in this post the scheduled distribution of monovalent vaccine and the cumulative number of doses delivered to the end of november.

As readers could acknowldege easily, the percent of population in vaccine inoculation queues is around 4 of the total Italian population.

The PDF Document is from Ministry of Health. (http://www.ministerosalute.it/imgs/...8_documenti_itemDocumenti_3_fileDocumento.pdf )

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

Are there any tv commercials, advertisements, government announcements to advise people how to protect themselves?

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Italy. Trend for Influenza-like Illness among population, as for Nov. 4, 2009

There are only a children-related public advert about simple methods to avoid infections: handwashing, cough etiquette with the help of a well known character (Topo Gigio).

Unfortunately, the youngest generation doesn't know this character, more common during '70 and '80 decades.