0000000000340502
AUTHOR
Costantino C.
Public health strategies adopted to manage the increase of accesses to vaccination services, as a result of the application of the law 119/2017.
Background and aim of the work: In response to the alarming reduction of vaccination coverage rates, Italian Ministry of Health approved the law number 119/2017, which has extended the number of mandatory vaccinations, for school attendance, from four to ten. The present study aims to evaluate accesses to the vaccination services of the Palermo Local Health Unit (LHU) and the variation of the vaccination coverage rates for hexavalent and measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccines, after the implementation of the law 119/2017. Methods: An extent of opening hours and an involvement of other health-care professionals in the vaccination services of the Palermo LHU have been adopted t…
EUROMEDITERRANEAN BIOMEDICAL JOURNAL (EMBJ) TO SUPPORT THE INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR GRANTS FROM THE ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH DEDICATED TO YOUNG RESEARCHERS
EuroMediterranean Biomedical Journal (EMBJ) can be considered both a scientific journal and a learning tool for “researchers-in-training” coming from Euro-Mediterranean Countries and other areas of the globe. We announce the launch of an international call for grants from Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS, the Italian National Institute Health), reserved to young Italian and foreign researchers. We strongly encourage the junior researchers that have authored manuscripts published in EMBJ to consider the application to this extraordinary opportunity.
Knowledge and attitudes of general population belonging to pharmacies of the Province of Palermo regarding the colorectal carcinoma screening: Results of a cross-sectional study
Colorectal cancer (CC) is one of the leading cause of deaths every year. Oncological screening are health and social intervention that aims to diagnose a disease in an early stage. Although the high sensitivity and specificity of the colorectal cancer screening (CCS), the adherence in the Southern Italian Administrative Regions is low. A cross-sectional study on a sample of subjects belonging to five pharmacies located in the Province of Palermo, Italy, was conducted between June 2019 and February 2020 in order to evaluate knowledge and attitudes of general population regarding CC and CCS. A higher knowledge score among population interviewed was significantly associated with residency in P…
Knowledge and attitudes of parents after the implementation of mandatory vaccination in kindergartens of Palermo, Italy.
Background and aim of the work: Even though vaccination is easy to access in Europe, it has been facing several outbreaks caused by vaccine preventable diseases. Trying to balance the right to health of the community with individual self-determination, in Italy was mandate vaccination for ten vaccine preventable diseases in 2017. The project “Sportello Vaccinale” provided a counseling service to parents in kindergarten of Palermo. The main objective of the study was to investigate knowledge and compliance on vaccination by children’s parents after the implementation of mandatory vaccination. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among parents accessing to the “Sportello Vaccinale” …
[ESCULAPIO: A project to elaborate strategies and actions of multi-purpose health communication on vaccine preventable infectious diseases in order to increase vaccination coverage in the population].
ESCULAPIO Project, funded by the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CCM) of the Italian Ministry of Health, for the program 2013, aims at increasing awareness on vaccine preventable infectious diseases (VPID) and vaccination in different targets of population and at spreading the culture of prevention by the development of information/training interventions on VPID. In Tuscany Region (Central Italy), educational courses on VPID in high schools were organized and students were stimulated to prepare informative materials on VPID for lower grade school pupils. Educational games for school pupils were realized in Liguria Region (Northern Italy) with the aim to increase awareness and kno…
Association between family environment and the bullying phenomenon among school-age children: A systematic review
There is a lack of evidence about the possible role of the family environment in the occurrence of the bullying phenomenon among school-age children. We carried out a systematic review of the literature to investigate the positive and negative family determinants associated with the bullying phenomenon. Potential classes of determinants-e.g. interparental conflict and/or parenting behaviours-were studied by searching peer-reviewed literature published between the January 2008 and December 2018 on PubMed/MEDLINE, SCOPUS and ISI Web of Science. At the end of the eligibility process, only 3 studies met all the inclusion criteria, and were then included in the narrative synthesis. Mother destru…
COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnancy, Paediatrics, Immunocompromised Patients, and Persons with History of Allergy or Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Overview of Current Recommendations and Pre- and Post-Marketing Evidence for Vaccine Efficacy and Safety
To date, four vaccines have been authorised for emergency use and under conditional approval by the European Medicines Agency to prevent COVID-19: Comirnaty, COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen, Spikevax (previously COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna) and Vaxzevria (previously COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca). Although the benefit–risk profile of these vaccines was proven to be largely favourable in the general population, evidence in special cohorts initially excluded from the pivotal trials, such as pregnant and breastfeeding women, children/adolescents, immunocompromised people and persons with a history of allergy or previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, is still limited. In this narrative review, we critically overv…
Euromediterranean biomedical journal: A new policy about self-referencing
The median self-citation rate of a researcher normally ranged between 10% and 25%. Recent works demonstrated that, among a list of around 100,000 researchers worldwide, hundreds of authors have collected more than a half of their work citations from themselves or their co-authors. During last years, EuroMediterranean Biomedical Journal progressively sought to improve the quality of the manuscripts published, introducing the requirement for all articles to be written in English and, before acceptance, to undergone to a native English speaker proof-reading process from 2012. Moreover, a new publishing layout and a renewed web-portal of the journal were introduced in 2017, representing a furth…
SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the mediterranean area: Epidemiology and perspectives
In December 2019, a disease caused by a novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2. At the end of May 2020, SARS-CoV-2 confirmed cases and deaths due to novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were about 6.5 million and 380,000, worldwide. In this commentary the authors argue on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in different epidemiological settings within the Mediterranean area, discussing any possible association with higher or lower virus spread according to climatic factors, pollutants, characteristics of general population, and organi…
Vaccination coverage in healthcare workers: a multicenter cross-sectional study in Italy
Introduction In recent years, a phenomenon known as "vaccine hesitancy" has spread throughout the world, even among health workers, determining a reduction in vaccination coverage (VC). A study aimed at evaluating VC among healthcare workers (HCWs) in 10 Italian cities (L'Aquila, Genoa, Milan, Palermo, Sassari, Catanzaro, Ferrara, Catania, Naples, Messina) was performed. Materials and methods Annex 3 of the Presidential Decree n. 445 of 28 December 2000 was used to collect information on the vaccination status of HCWs. The mean and standard deviation (SD) were calculated with regard to the quantitative variable (age), while absolute and relative frequencies were obtained for categorical dat…
Exploring the effectiveness of the Digital Green Certificate Law as Public Health instrument to increase anti-COVID-19 vaccination in a sample of working-age adult population in the Palermo Metropolitan Area.
Counteracting vaccine hesitancy should be considered an absolute priority for Public Health Authorities. A correct health communication represents one of the best ways to increase adhesion to vaccination among hesitant population. In order to increase vaccination coverage rates against COVID-19, the Italian government has issued a legislative decree with a mandatory “Digital Green Certificate” (DGC) to access workplaces for some categories considered at risk. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study with the aim to highlight the factors associated with the anti-COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and to estimate the influence of the introduction by law of the Digital Green Certificate (DGC) on…
The role of the Community Pharmacist in promoting vaccinations among general population according to the National Vaccination Plan 2017-2019: results from a survey in Sicily, Italy.
Introduction. The 2017-2019 Italian National Vaccination Plan promotes the improvement of knowledge and attitudes of healthcare workers about vaccine prevention, in order to spread a vaccination culture among general population. Similarly to the General Practitioner, the Pharmacist represents a fundamental forefront for both patients and healthy people, also in promoting vaccine acceptance. This research aims to analyze knowledge and attitudes about vaccines of Community Pharmacists and to evaluate the burden of vaccination counselling during their work activities. Material and methods. A standardized, self-administered and previously validated questionnaire, including 5 sections and 28 ite…