It is not always easy to find the “square” between public health interventions and economic contingencies. But there are elements, such as screening for the early diagnosis of tumors, which have amply demonstrated that they are “cost-effective”, that is, that they bring a double advantage, for the subject who undergoes the test and can detect a possible tumor early and healthcare. In this logic, then, the vaccinations. Having said that the appropriateness of the interventions must be the basis, carefully identifying the subjects to be subjected to vaccines, thanks to this prevention strategy you protect people and save money.
This is remembered once again by a report presented at the National Congress of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SItI), held in Palermo. Attention, obviously, should not only be brought to children, but also to adults and above all to the elderly and frail people. Also because according to Istat estimates, the over 65s are growing: in 2030 there will be 15.9 million (27.1% of the population), in 2040 18.5 million (32.4%) and in 2050 18.9 million (34.5%).
The economic advantages of vaccinations
To demonstrate, with figures in hand, the economic value of obtaining adequate optimal vaccination coverage is a research coordinated by Eugenio Di Brino, ALTEMS Researcher, Co-founder & partner of Altems Advisory of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. The research examined the impact on the economy of failure to vaccinate with a quantification of the loss of health and increased costs in the different regional contexts identified, enhancing the economic and social implications of the expansion of vaccination coverage and modalities as envisaged by the National Plan for Vaccine Prevention 2023-2025.
The calculation of the economic impact of lack of vaccination coverage refers to non-mandatory vaccinations, i.e. for Papillomavirus (HPV), Meningococcal ACWY (MenACWY), Influenza (FLU), Pneumococcal, Herpes Zoster (HZV), Covid-19.
“We monitored the economic evaluation studies on vaccinations currently present in the literature – explained the expert. We have thus created a new evaluation framework, which takes into consideration something more than the perspectives that we usually find in the literature, i.e. direct and indirect costs and the fiscal impact”.
The research, in particular, investigated the impact of missing vaccinations on value of lost production directly linked to the production of resources and capital (GDP) for our country.
“By analyzing a portion of the vaccination calendar, we have seen that – starting from the current estimates of national coverage – by raising these coverages to the minimum and optimal levels, we have estimated a benefit in terms of recovered tax revenue of 560 million euros, a reduction of up to 2.9 billion in indirect costs and finally we will be able to recover around 9 and a half billion of GDP – is Di Brino’s comment. Working together to achieve optimal levels of coverage is an important challenge for our country, to be achieved jointly between institutions and citizens and allocating the necessary resources to make all this possible”.
Vaccinations in adults and beyond
Adult vaccination is an issue that concerns not only health, therefore, but also health spending. Influenza, pneumonia, Sars-Cov 2 and Herpes zoster are serious diseases for fragile subjects but, at the same time, preventable by vaccines not yet sufficiently used by the population. In this sense, it should be remembered that the vaccination offer must be closer to the citizen, who should be able to obtain protection where the right to vaccination can be demanded in complete safety. But above all, it is necessary to provide real access tovaccination registryby healthcare workers, so as to obtain effective integrated management of vaccinations between the different operational settings, also simplifying the entry of data relating to vaccinations administered.
In short, we still need to work on data management. With one certainty. As noted by Roberta Siliquini, President of the Italian Hygiene Society (SItI), “the value of vaccinations is now clear, both from a health point of view, but also from an economic one, as an investment of the National Health Service. Unfortunately we are witnessing a reduction in vaccinations for many pathologies, among these it is important to remember measles, an extremely contagious pathology. The lowering of the roofs led to a notable increase in cases: from around 2 dozen last year to more than 800 cases this year, it is necessary not to let our guard down because the risk of an epidemic like the one in 2017 is unfortunately close.”
A challenge for active aging
Every time a virus or a bacterium plays “cops and robbers” with our organism, the game involves complications, diversions and twists worthy of an Agatha Christie novel. And unfortunately the good guys don’t always win: if the attack is particularly ingenious, the “invaders” can get the upper hand. If, however, it is the defense strategy that is more brilliant, in the end our organism wins. Vaccines are used precisely to ensure that the defenses are increasingly stronger in the face of a possible invasion.
Thanks to science, it must be said, much has changed in terms of prevention opportunities since Louis Pasteur’s historic rule, “isolate the germ, kill it, inject it”. But the moral is always the same. Preventing infections with vaccinations, we preserve the individual and the entire social systemalso helping healthcare. With an eye to specific populations that may be at greater risk due to age, fragility or the very characteristics of viruses and bacteria with consequent immune memory mechanisms.
That ofactive aging it is a basic objective that responds not only to a need of the community, on a socio-economic and cultural level, but also to a specific need of individuals who ask to be able to be increasingly active in old age and, for this reason, to add quality of life to the years. Vaccines, according to what doctors indicate, can help. And a lot. To reduce the direct and indirect risks of an infection potentially capable of altering the balance of the elderly person as well as those with particular pathologies, regardless of age.
