Juliette Gagliardi
Junior Researcher
Vaccinations in Italy - Statistics & Facts
Vaccines can protect from serious and potentially fatal diseases, representing one of the strongest prevention tools available worldwide. As of 2022, around 86 percent of the general population in Italy believed vaccines were important for children to have. In Italy, there are currently ten compulsory vaccines for children and adolescents. Among two-year-old children, vaccination coverage for tetanus, pertussis, polio, and diphtheria reached 95 percent in 2022. The hepatitis A vaccine is among the non-mandatory vaccines and coverage stands slightly below seven percent for children of this age group.
Seasonal flu vaccination
Seasonal flu vaccination is provided every year in Italy by family doctors, pharmacies, and healthcare facilities. It is free of charge for people aged 60 years and above, children younger than six years, and people with chronic illnesses. The coverage rate of the seasonal flu vaccination in Italy is heterogeneous among age groups. People over 65 years are the ones with the highest influenza vaccination rate, with a coverage of 53.3 percent during the flu season of 2023-2024. This group is among those recommended by the Italian Ministry of Health to get vaccinated against seasonal flu. The Italian regions with the highest coverage for the elderly were Umbria and Emilia Romagna, with 65.8 and 59.4 percent, respectively.COVID-19 vaccination
Italy was the first OECD country to enforce drastic measures to contain the transmission of COVID-19 heavily affecting its economy, healthcare system, and schooling system. The vaccination campaign helped the economy to recover, loosened the pressure on intensive care units, and allowed the reopening of schools. Those factors might have contributed to the fact that in 2022 roughly 90 percent of Italian citizens were defined as pro COVID-19 vaccination. As of 2023, around 84 percent of the total Italian population had completed the regular vaccination cycle against COVID-19. Among people aged 80 years and older COVID-19 vaccination coverage had reached almost 96 percent.
