Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 21;49(1):91.
doi: 10.1186/s13052-023-01481-0.

Preschool-located influenza vaccination and influenza-like illness surveillance: an Italian pilot experience

Antonella Amendola  1   2 , Elisa Borghi  3   4 , Silvia Bianchi  3   4 , Maria Gori  3   4 , Clara Fappani  3   4   5 , Lucia Barcellini  6 , Federica Forlanini  6 , Nicolò Garancini  6 , Chiara Nava  6 , Alessandra Mari  6 , Anna Sala  6 , Chiara Gasparini  6 , Emerenziana Ottaviano  3   4 , Daniela Colzani  3 , Elia Mario Biganzoli  7 , Elisabetta Tanzi  3   4 , Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti  6
Affiliations

Preschool-located influenza vaccination and influenza-like illness surveillance: an Italian pilot experience

Antonella Amendola et al. Ital J Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: We describe the first school-located influenza vaccination campaign with quadrivalent live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) among pre-school children in Italy, coupled with an innovative school-centred influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) surveillance using a self-sampling non-invasive saliva collection method.

Methods: The pilot study was proposed during the 2021/2022 influenza season to fifteen pre-schools in the Milan municipality. LAIV was offered directly in school to all healthy children without contraindications. ILI differential diagnosis was conducted by real-time RT-PCR for influenza A/B and SARS-CoV-2.

Results: Five pre-schools were involved in the pilot project and overall, 135 families (31.2%) participated in the study, adhering to both surveillance and vaccination; 59% of families had an immigrant background. No pupil experienced adverse reactions after vaccination. Nineteen saliva samples were collected from sixteen children (11.8%). Six samples (31.6%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2; none was positive for influenza A/B.

Conclusions: The participation in the immunisation campaign was good, considering possible absences due to COVID-19 pandemic, and the intranasal administration was well tolerated and helped to overcome parental hesitancy. Saliva sampling represented a useful tool to reduce children's stress and increase parents' compliance. The high participation of families with an immigrant background suggests that school-based interventions can represent an effective strategy to overcome socioeconomic and cultural barriers.

Keywords: Children; Health equity; Live-attenuated influenza vaccination; Saliva; School-located vaccination; Self-sampling.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Pilot study flow chart. Vaccination coverage
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Milan urban area: school locations have been highlighted with coloured pins, and vaccination campaign results are reported as pie-chart for each school.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Grosso F, Castrofino A, Del Castillo G, Galli C, Binda S, Pellegrinelli L et al. A comparative study between the incidence and epidemiological features of Influenza-Like Illness and laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases in the italian epicenter (Lombardy). J Infect Public Health 2021 May;14(5):674–80. 10.1016/j.jiph.2021.02.003. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Candelli M, Pignataro G, Torelli E, Gullì A, Nista EC, Petrucci M et al. Effect of influenza vaccine on COVID-19 mortality: a retrospective study. Intern Emerg Med. 2021 Oct 1;16(7):1849–55. 10.1007/s11739-021-02702-2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang R, Liu M, Liu J. The Association between Influenza Vaccination and COVID-19 and its outcomes: a systematic review and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies. Vaccines 2021 May;9(5):529. 10.3390/vaccines9050529. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Vaccines against influenza WHO position paper – November 2012. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2012 Nov;23(47):461–76. - PubMed
    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Influenza virus characterization - Summary Europe, March 2022. 2022 [cited 2022 Jul 26]. Available from: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/influenza-virus-characte....

Grants and funding