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Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study

The active immunization of health care workers (HCWs) is a crucial measure to avoid nosocomial infection; nevertheless, vaccine coverage (VC) among health personnel in Italy is unsatisfactory. To improve VC in the healthcare set, the Hygiene and Occupational Medicine departments of Bari Policlinico...

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Autores principales: Bianchi, Francesco Paolo, Stefanizzi, Pasquale, De Maria, Luigi, Martinelli, Andrea, Diella, Giusy, Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria, Vimercati, Luigi, Tafuri, Silvio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9610769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36298499
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10101633
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author Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
Stefanizzi, Pasquale
De Maria, Luigi
Martinelli, Andrea
Diella, Giusy
Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria
Vimercati, Luigi
Tafuri, Silvio
author_facet Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
Stefanizzi, Pasquale
De Maria, Luigi
Martinelli, Andrea
Diella, Giusy
Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria
Vimercati, Luigi
Tafuri, Silvio
author_sort Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
collection PubMed
description The active immunization of health care workers (HCWs) is a crucial measure to avoid nosocomial infection; nevertheless, vaccine coverage (VC) among health personnel in Italy is unsatisfactory. To improve VC in the healthcare set, the Hygiene and Occupational Medicine departments of Bari Policlinico General University Hospital applied a specific program. The operative procedure demands that in the context of the occupational medical examination, all workers are evaluated for susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases (VDPs), with immunization prophylaxis offered to those determined to be susceptible. This study analyzed data from workers who attended the biological risk assessment protocol from December 2017 to October 2021 (n = 1477), who were evaluated for the immune status for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella. Among the enrolled subjects, non-protective antibody titers were higher for measles and mumps (13%), followed by rubella (11%) and varicella (8%). Appropriate vaccinations were offered to all susceptible HCWs, and HCWs were re-tested one month after immunization. The seroconversion rate after the administration of one or more booster dose(s) was over 80%. Overall, 2.5% of the subjects refused the offered vaccine(s); the main determinant of immunization compliance was younger age (aOR = 0.86; 95%CI = 0.80–0.92). Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, VPDs may still present a hazard in nosocomial environment. Our experience suggests that, despite hospital procedures and dedicated human assets, satisfactory VC cannot be reached without the provision of federal regulations. Nevertheless, public health policymakers have to improve the promotion of vaccine prophylaxis and education to reach higher VC.
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spelling pubmed-96107692022-10-28 Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study Bianchi, Francesco Paolo Stefanizzi, Pasquale De Maria, Luigi Martinelli, Andrea Diella, Giusy Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria Vimercati, Luigi Tafuri, Silvio Vaccines (Basel) Article The active immunization of health care workers (HCWs) is a crucial measure to avoid nosocomial infection; nevertheless, vaccine coverage (VC) among health personnel in Italy is unsatisfactory. To improve VC in the healthcare set, the Hygiene and Occupational Medicine departments of Bari Policlinico General University Hospital applied a specific program. The operative procedure demands that in the context of the occupational medical examination, all workers are evaluated for susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases (VDPs), with immunization prophylaxis offered to those determined to be susceptible. This study analyzed data from workers who attended the biological risk assessment protocol from December 2017 to October 2021 (n = 1477), who were evaluated for the immune status for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella. Among the enrolled subjects, non-protective antibody titers were higher for measles and mumps (13%), followed by rubella (11%) and varicella (8%). Appropriate vaccinations were offered to all susceptible HCWs, and HCWs were re-tested one month after immunization. The seroconversion rate after the administration of one or more booster dose(s) was over 80%. Overall, 2.5% of the subjects refused the offered vaccine(s); the main determinant of immunization compliance was younger age (aOR = 0.86; 95%CI = 0.80–0.92). Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, VPDs may still present a hazard in nosocomial environment. Our experience suggests that, despite hospital procedures and dedicated human assets, satisfactory VC cannot be reached without the provision of federal regulations. Nevertheless, public health policymakers have to improve the promotion of vaccine prophylaxis and education to reach higher VC. MDPI 2022-09-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9610769/ /pubmed/36298499 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10101633 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
Stefanizzi, Pasquale
De Maria, Luigi
Martinelli, Andrea
Diella, Giusy
Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria
Vimercati, Luigi
Tafuri, Silvio
Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study
title Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study
title_full Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study
title_fullStr Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study
title_full_unstemmed Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study
title_short Vaccination Offer during the Occupational Health Surveillance Program for Healthcare Workers and Suitability to Work: An Italian Retrospective Cohort Study
title_sort vaccination offer during the occupational health surveillance program for healthcare workers and suitability to work: an italian retrospective cohort study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9610769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36298499
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10101633
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