Italy launches national RSV vaccine awareness campaign

In Italy the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) causes about 290,000 acute respiratory infections each year, leading to roughly 26,000 hospitalisations and 1,800 deaths among adults, especially the elderly and people with chronic heart, lung, kidney or diabetic conditions. On 24 July, a coalition of patient associations and the Ministry of Health presented the national awareness campaign “I Silenzi dell’RSV” in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome. The campaign, produced with communication firm Helaglobe and supported by GSK, Moderna and Pfizer, urges the extension of RSV vaccination to all fragile adults in line with European EMA approvals and recommendations already in place in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Representatives such as Anna Caraglia of the Ministry of Health highlighted that regional vaccine roll‑outs are uneven and that new guidelines will be issued to include older and vulnerable adults in the national immunisation schedule.