Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns in Veneto Region: Population Vaccination Centers as Support for the Traditional Outpatient Model

Abstract

The extraordinary vaccination campaigns of the COVID-19 pandemic era put organizational and operational systems to the test in numerous territorial contexts. In the Veneto region, the activation of population vaccination centers (CVPs) guaranteed the provision of vaccines to mountain areas. These centers, drive-in and building-based, improved the efficiency of dose administration in relation to similar conditions where healthcare workers (HCWs) were routinely involved in clinics. Overall, a comparison of the two models investigated, with the same numbers of HCWs involved and the same opening hours for the vaccination sites, has shown that the CVPs are able to guarantee three times as many vaccines administered, compared with the traditional outpatient model. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the adopted organizational model, highlighting the best practices and improvements required to guarantee a timely and effective public health response, and evaluating the opportunities to deploy these innovative methods actively in a standard context.

Keywords: healthcare workers; mountain medicine; organizational model; vaccination offer.

Figure 1

Distribution of vaccination access points in the ULSS 1 Dolomiti territory in 2019 (on the left—the orange dots represent the hospital facilities and the green triangles represent the local clinics belonging to the prevention department) and in 2021 (on the right—the orange dots represent hospital facilities and the green dots represent drive-in and “building” CVPs belonging to the prevention department).