More can and must be done to promote vaccinations during pregnancy. A fundamental tool to protect the health of Italian women and children, about which there is still little awareness. This is what emerged during the conference “Vaccination during pregnancy. The importance of primary prevention” which took place yesterday in the Senate on the initiative of Senator Maria Domenica Castellone in collaboration with the Onda ETS Foundation and SIGO – Italian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics. An event which saw the presentation of the results of a mapping, conducted in the Pink Stamp hospitals, on the attitude of pregnant women and new mothers towards primary prevention, which highlights a continuing skepticism towards vaccinations recommended during pregnancy.
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by Tiziana Moriconi
How many women get vaccinated during pregnancy
The results of the survey, which involved 300 women during pregnancy or in the first months after giving birth, reveal that 65% rely mainly on a gynecologist in private practice, and that the partner is an extremely present figure in sharing healthcare decisions. Speaking of vaccines carried out during pregnancy, 22% of the women interviewed declared that they had adhered to the COVID-19 vaccination, 33% to the flu vaccination, and 42% to the tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough vaccination .
Percentages deemed insufficient by the specialists who spoke during the conference. And which probably arise from the lack of awareness of their importance for maternal and neonatal health. An area in which, research highlights, primary prevention in the common imagination is entrusted almost exclusively to the execution of genetic tests/prenatal screening, a healthy lifestyle and the carrying out of regular clinical checks, and is much more rarely associated with the concept of vaccination.
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The main reasons that push pregnant women to get vaccinated are: the desire to protect the health of the child (53%), the perception of exposure to the risk of contracting the disease (48%), combined with medical advice (37%). The survey shows that 92% of women wish to receive information from healthcare professionals, who play a key role in this respect: 85% of them would like to receive information from the gynecologist, while 33% would like to receive it from the medical doctor general.
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“The results of the survey on vaccination prevention during pregnancy present a picture that can be improved which requires providing an adequate response – he commented Francesca Merzagora, President of the Onda ETS Foundation – The need to increase awareness of the vaccines available during pregnancy emerges as fundamental, treating the topic as an integral part of primary prevention and raising awareness above all of the high risks associated with pathologies and the low risks of vaccinations. It is also necessary to increase adherence to vaccines, with the involvement of institutions to raise awareness on the issue at a high level and of health professionals (first the gynecologist), for targeted information that can reassure and motivate women. Finally, it is necessary to simplify access to vaccinations, i.e. facilitate the booking process, reduce waiting times, offer the possibility of having vaccines near the residence or at the same site as other visits and tests, to carry them out at the same time”.
The offer of hospitals for pregnant women
During the event, the results of a mapping conducted in the gynecology and obstetrics departments of the Bollino Rosa hospitals were also presented, aimed at understanding the offer of services dedicated to primary prevention during pregnancy. From the responses of 210 centers across the country it emerges that vaccinations are in most cases delegated to the territory: 118 hospitals out of 210 in fact do not provide the service internally. Of these 118 hospitals, however, most provide information on where to go at a local level to access the vaccination service (only 22 hospitals do not do so). Of the hospitals that directly offer a vaccination service (total 92 facilities), the majority also have a clinic dedicated to pregnant women (50 hospitals).
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“On a maternal-fetal level, vaccines represent an important tool for the prevention of congenital defects and maternal-fetone-natal diseases,” he underlined Trojan horse, President Sigo. “The active offer (adequate information, written indication in the medical record) significantly increases vaccination coverage”. Almost all the centers involved declared that they have a birth center within them (only 12 do not), with a volume of activity that exceeds 500 births per year and the majority respect the “corners” of primary prevention, i.e. guarantees women specific educational interventions on correct nutrition (over 90 percent, 196 hospitals) and promotes physical activity during pregnancy (88 percent, 185 hospitals), beyond the information provided during outpatient visits.
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The commitment to ensuring correct care takes place mostly through the birth accompaniment course although, in many cases, other types of activities are organised, such as the pregnancy diary, counseling with a nutritionist, information campaigns against alcohol. Good coverage emerges for the treatment of anxiety and depression in pregnancy (78 percent, 165 hospitals) and this figure denotes how primary prevention by hospitals also takes place with a view to catching the first signs of psychopathologies in pregnancy.
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– 2024-04-11 18:22:37
