Papilloma virus: 95% of young people vaccinated by 2030 far from target

The average HPV vaccination coverage in girls is below the optimal threshold set by the National Plan for Vaccine Prevention (95% in the 12th year of life). According to the data released by the Ministry of Health, no Region or Autonomous Province reaches the reference value in any of the cohorts examined. The national HPV vaccination coverage value for girls in the 2012 cohort, in fact, is 51.18%, while that of the 2011 cohort is 64.07%. The coverage per complete cycle in the 2009 cohort is 70.58%. In general, there is an upward trend in HPV vaccination for girls with respect to 2023. The HPV vaccination coverage value for boys in the youngest cohort (2012) is 44.65%, while that of the 2011 cohort is 55.80%. For boys, too, the progressive improvement in vaccination coverage of individual cohorts continues with respect to the 2023 disclosure.

"We are unfortunately still far from the goal of vaccinating 95% of 11-12 year old boys and girls by 2030," stressed Iss president Rocco Bellantone, "and there are still large differences in vaccination coverage between one region and another. The Iss's appeal to paediatricians, family doctors, parents, teachers, and gynaecologists is to promote vaccination by reducing the circulation of infections and, consequently, protecting others.

According to the Iss, in fact, the Hpv vaccine could prevent almost three thousand deaths a year in Italy due to infection-related cancers, but seven out of ten parents believe that this form of prevention is not useful and for eight out of ten, Hpv is not a serious disease. Parents' attitudes were investigated by the recently concluded European project Perch, of which Italy's Iss was the lead partner. In addition to a lack of confidence in the vaccine's efficacy, there are also doubts about its safety, with 40% of parents interviewed stating that they are afraid of adverse effects. Added to this is the difficulty in reaching vaccination centres, perceived by 70% of those interviewed, and also the fact that 6 out of 10 do not know that the vaccine is free. The result is that, as Health Ministry data show, no region in Italia has reached 95% coverage, ranging from a high of 77% in Lombardy to 23% in Sicily.

"The reasons for the low uptake of the vaccination are mainly linked to an awareness that is not always complete about the danger of the virus and its link to the development of cancers that cause thousands of deaths,' explains Raffaella Bucciardini, scientific head of the Perch project. 'Added to this are fears about the safety of the vaccine and possible side effects. Confidence in its efficacy, on the other hand, is generally good. The job is therefore, first and foremost, to overturn these perceptions through correct and evidence-based information'.

An effective way to increase coverage is to bring the vaccination directly to school, as demonstrated by a pilot experience conducted within Perch by the Taranto Local Health Authority under the supervision of the Prevention Department of the Apulia Region directed by Michele Conversano. The vaccine was carried out in 29 schools, and the coverage of the complete cycle in 11- and 12-year-olds rose for girls from a regional average of 57% to 73%, and for boys, again for the complete cycle, from 45% to 67.4%.