Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination recovery campaign in Emilia-Romagna region, Italy: impact on vaccination coverage in women up to 25 years
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Section of Public Health, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
2
Section of Public Health, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
3
Regional Health Authority, Emilia Romagna Region, Bologna, Italy
4
Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
Publication date: 2023-04-27
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A2000
ABSTRACT
Background: Vaccination is the main intervention for primary prevention against HPV-related cancers, such as cervical cancer. The most recent vaccine, used in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Region (RER), is a nine-valent vaccine that prevent more than 90% of precancerous lesions. In Italy, vaccination has been offered for 11-year-olds since 2008 (birth cohort 1997); RER, from June 2019, offers HPV-vaccination to all 25-year women, not previously vaccinated, by Regional Act 1045/2019 (RA). This study aims to evaluate the vaccination coverage in women up to 25 years-old, after 3 years from RA. Methods: We analysed vaccination coverage data before and after RA with SAS-enterprise. We considered women of 1995, 1996, 1997 birth cohorts, with HPV-vaccination cycle started from July 2019, in the year of their 25th birthday. According to RA active call is at 25th birthday and the vaccination cycle should be started before 26 years-old to be entitled to free admission. Results: From July 2019 to November 2022, 4025 women have started HPV-vaccination cycle in RER and 55.5% of them have already completed it. We found an increase of vaccination coverage for 1995-1996-1997 cohort of 7.7%, 7.6% and 4.6% for 1st dose, respectively, and 5.8%, 4.1% and 1.1% for completed cycle. The mean current coverage is 35.8%, 60.0%, 72.9% for 1st dose and 26.4%, 52.4%, 67.7% for a full course, for 1995-1996-1997 cohort respectively. Conclusions: Preliminary data show increased vaccination coverage on all considered cohorts. The greatest increase was for 1995-1996 cohorts, while 1997 cohort may have been more affected by the delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Active call policies may be associated with this increased coverage. The first effects of HPV vaccination have already been visible on secondary prevention programs for the prevention of cervical cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to continue the implementation of policies for increasing vaccination coverage.