Italy should launch a school
vaccination programme to fight infectious diseases, the
president of Italy's National Institute of Health Walter
Ricciardi told the Senate on Tuesday.
Italy could halve 97-million-euro annual cost of treating
infectious diseases by implementing such a programme, Ricciardi
told lawmakers.
He said successful pilot programmes following the British
model were carried out in cities such as Palermo and Rome last
year.
Experts are looking into how to promote vaccinations after
statistics revealed that coverage in Italy has fallen below 95%
for diseases including tetanus and hepatitis B.
"Vaccines are the safest and most efficient tool to avoid
illnesses," said Ricciardi. "They are tested more than 500 times
during manufacture and sale," he added.
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