Anti-Sars-CoV-2 vaccination campaign in children aged 5-11 years: the experience of a mass vaccination center in the city of Milan
Keywords:
pediatric vaccination center, Sars-CoV-2 pediatric vaccines, pediatric vaccines, mass vaccination center, vaccination center organizationAbstract
Background and aim: After the approval of the anti-Sars-CoV-2 vaccines for the pediatric population, it is necessary to encourage the immunization of children aged 5-11 years, as this can reduce intergenerational transmission. Therefore, this goal has become a priority for the COVID 19 vaccination campaign in Italy. In the city of Milan, the mass vaccination center (MVC) Fiera Milano City, previously settled for general population, became the main site to host pediatric vaccinations. The center was consequently remodeled to ensure a suitable space for children. This paper provides an overview on the organization strategy implemented by Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico. The modular structure and the wide surface available in the center allowed the administration of hundreds of vaccines per day, especially in the first opening phase.
Methods: All the data for the entire period of activity of Fiera MCV, from December 16th 2021 to February 20th 2022, were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Results: During the entire period of activity, from 16 December 2021 to 20 February 2022, 23% of the population in the province of Milan aged 5-11 years has been reached and vaccinated with at least one shot of vaccine in this center.
Conclusions: Despite an enthusiastic response in the first weeks of the campaign, a progressive reduction in vaccination adherence was observed, maybe due to the absence of restrictive measures for unvaccinated children in Italy.
References
WHO. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19. 11 March 2020. https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020
WHO. Interim statement on COVID-19 vaccination for children and adolescents. 24 November 2021. https://www.who.int/news/item/24-11-2021-interim-statement-on-covid-19-vaccination-for-children-and-adolescents
Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Epidemia COVID-19. Aggiornamento nazionale 12 gennaio 2022. https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/bollettino/Bollettino-sorveglianza-integrata-COVID-19_12-gennaio-2022
Lu X, Zhang L, Du H et al. SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children. New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 382, no. 17, pp. 1663–1665, Mar. 2020, doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2005073.
Götzinger F, Santiago-García B, Noguera-Julián A et al. COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Europe: a multinational, multicentre cohort study. The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 653–661, 2020, doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30177-2.
Tsankov BK, Allaire JM, Irvine MA et al. Severe COVID-19 Infection and Pediatric Comorbidities: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 103, no. January, pp. 246–256, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.11.163.
Jiang L, Tang K, Levin M, et al. COVID-19 and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, vol. 20, no. 11, pp. e276–e288, 2020, doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30651-4.
Buonsenso D, Munblit D, De Rose C et al. Preliminary evidence on long COVID in children. Acta Paediatrica, International Journal of Paediatrics, vol. 110, no. 7, pp. 2208–2211, 2021, doi: 10.1111/apa.15870.
EMA. Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine: EMA recommends approval for children aged 5 to 11. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/comirnaty-covid-19-vaccine-ema-recommends-approval-children-aged-5-11
FDA. FDA Authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use in Children through 11 Years of Age. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-emergency-use-children-5-through-11-years-age
Walter EB, Talaat KR, Sabharwal C et al. Evaluation of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine in Children 5 to 11 Years of Age. New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 386, no. 1, pp. 35–46, Nov. 2021. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2116298.
AIFA. AIFA approva il vaccino Comirnaty per la fascia di età 5-11 anni. https://www.aifa.gov.it/documents/20142/1289678/Comunicato_AIFA_674
Ministero della Salute, presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Commissario Straordinario COVID-19. Report Vaccini Anti COVID-19. https://www.governo.it/it/cscovid19/report-vaccini/
Regione Lombardia, deliberazione n° XI / 4353. Approvazione del piano regionale vaccini per la prevenzione delle infezioni da Sars-CoV-2. Seduta del 24/02/2021.
Oliani F, Savoia A, Gallo G et al. Italy's rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations: The crucial contribution of the first experimental mass vaccination site in Lombardy. Vaccine. 2022 Feb 3:S0264-410X(22)00115-3. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.01.059. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35144846; PMCID: PMC8810348.
Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Vaccini COVID-19. https://www.iss.it/vaccini-covid-19
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Elisa Astorri, Francesco Mazziotta, Claudio Macrelli, Navpreet Tiwana, Matteo Letzgus, Alberto Bisesti, Dario Laquintana, Laura Chiappa, Alessandra Piatti, Marcello Sottocorno, Francesco Falbo, Matilde Rosso, Ludovica Caprini, Silvana Castaldi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.
How to Cite
