Effect of the mandatory vaccination law on measles and rubella incidence and vaccination coverage in Italy (2013-2019)

Abstract

Despite the introduction of the trivalent vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) more than 20 years ago, measles outbreaks have occurred in Europe, including Italy, due to its underutilization. In Italy mandatory vaccination was established in 2017 (Decree Law 119/2017). This study aimed at evaluating the impact of mandatory vaccination and determining the trend in vaccination coverage for measles and rubella in Italy. We retrieved data from the Annual Status Update, a form sent annually by the Italian National Verification Committee to the Regional Verification Committee for Europe, from 1 st January 2013 to 31 st December 2019. Since the beginning of 2013, 14,788 cases of measles have been reported, ranging from 256 (3.9 x 1,000,000) to 5,397 (88.4 x 1,000,000) compared to 259 rubella cases for the same period. From 2013 to 2015, vaccination coverage decreased for the first dose of measles (90.4% to 85.3%) and rubella vaccine (90.3% to 85.2%), but then it increased significantly, reinforced by the Italian Decree Law, reaching 94.4% in 2019. The trend for the second dose showed a decrease from 2013 to 2016 (84.1% to 82.2% for measles and 83.7% to 82.0% for rubella), but then increased significantly and reached 90.2% in 2019 for measles and 90.0% for rubella. The mandatory vaccination law has resulted in a significant increase in vaccination coverage for measles and rubella in Italy, and demonstrates encouraging progress toward the 95% target and the restriction of measles transmission. Special attention should be paid to maintaining and further improving vaccination coverage.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Italian University Students: A Cross-Sectional Survey during the First Months of the Vaccination Campaign

“…Conversely, our students seemed to be receptive to the scientific recommendation that natural immunity should not exempt an individual from vaccination [35]; higher levels of hesitancy were not observed in respondents reporting a past COVID-19 infection. As for finances and political ideology, two other well-documented determinants of vaccine-related attitudes and behaviors [12,25,36,37], in the whole sample we found an association for the latter only. It is difficult to hypothesize why those students who preferred not to disclose their political position were more likely to be hesitant; for example, these students may not have had a clear opinion, or they may not have wished to report it voluntarily, or a mixture of both.…”

Prevalence and management of rubella susceptibility in healthcare workers in Italy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…After exclusion of duplicate articles in the two databases, there were nine eligible studies [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] ( Table 1 ), of which eight were quantitative [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] and one was qualitative [18] . The remaining 88 studies did not match the inclusion criteria [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , ...…”

Driving Paediatric Vaccine Recovery in Europe

“…Yet, vaccination is mandatory in Bulgaria, and it experiences high degrees of fluctuation in VCRs, with coverage below the designated threshold for all vaccines assessed in 2021 [ 24 ]. Nonetheless, policies that have promoted regular health evaluations for infants, or the harmonisation of the immunisation schedule with routine health check-ups for children, have been a facilitator for increased coverage [ 25 ]. Some EU countries, such as Estonia and Germany, have successfully introduced mandatory check-ups for infants, where vaccines may be given albeit not mandatory themselves [ 25 ].…”