Alto Garda Launches Early Flu Vaccination Campaign for At-Risk Groups
Forecasts and Risks of the Seasonal Flu
Carried by icy currents sweeping down from the Arctic, or riding the typhoons that lash Southeast Asia, squads of influenza viruses are preparing to invade Europe between December and February.
They will bring high fever, aching bones, shortness of breath, coughs more or less cavernous, sometimes accompanied by stomach pain, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.
If someone is healthy, a little bed rest and warmth are enough for the flu to pass, adding to the list of ailments one would gladly do without but that leave no heavy or particularly painful after-effects.
Projections for at-risk individuals and vaccination campaign
The outlook differs for the so-called at-risk groups which the Distretto Alto Garda e Ledro, following WHO guidelines, identifies as those over 64 years old, infants, individuals with debilitating diseases, those caring for at-risk persons, and people in contact with large crowds: in short, all citizens for whom the consequences of influenza—more than the disease itself—could cause problems.
A massive vaccination campaign is ready for all these groups, starting next Friday, October 12, and running until Wednesday, October 24; afterward, vaccinations will continue in medical clinics.
The Alto Garda district is the first among the province’s districts to initiate this.
The timing is based on the “mechanisms” of the vaccine’s function, which, once injected, stimulates the body to produce defenses capable, after a month or two, of defeating the virus when it arrives.
Results and details of the vaccination campaign
The initiative is gaining increasing approval among the population: last year, 4,335 doses were administered by the district.
Specifically, according to Dr. Pierluigi Gardini, 3,517 of these were used for individuals over sixty-four (1,352 males and 2,165 females).
The remaining doses targeted at-risk groups: 32 children under 3 years old, 55 individuals aged 3 to 12, 277 between 13 and 50, and 454 between 51 and 64.
In the previous year, the number of Alto Garda residents who received the vaccine was between 3,500 and 3,700.
That winter, the flu was particularly severe: enough to justify increased preventive measures the following season.
This year, estimates suggest further growth, given the demonstrated effectiveness of the campaign.
Type of vaccine and product choice
The vaccine selected by the district for the 2001 campaign is a trivalent one, active against strains from New Caledonia, China, and Russia.
Among the available options on the market, Dr. Gardini chose a purified vaccine to minimize the possible side effects associated with this kind of medicine.
