Implementation and Monitoring of the Vaccination Campaign against SARS-Cov-2 Virus in the Local Health Authority of Viterbo
Authors: Dari Silvia 
Published: August 2022

Introduction: The COVID emergency has been of great impact for health systems, among the various causes mainly for the difficulties in forecasting, the rapidity of spread, the lack of intervention plans of immediate implementation. Albeit with an 'emergency' specification, the authorization of a vaccine against the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic virus by the international regulatory bodies in a very short space of time enabled to plan the operational actions and the interventions on the territory. In all its phases, the vaccination campaign has always followed the indications of the Commission Structure, the Ministry of Health and Lazio Region. The ministerial guidance document on how to implement a vaccination campaign was never been done before in terms of the number of people to be reached, of the size of the resources to be involved, of the finding of suitable locations administering vaccines and of the computerization of data. In the first months of the year, the supply of vaccination was strongly influenced by the availability of doses, which were initially intended for the categories and age groups mostly at risk. Subsequently, the target of intervention has increasingly expanded to include the entire population of persons aged > 12 years. 20 Vaccination Centers were activated in the province of Viterbo, each with a Medical Director and a Nurse Referent. A centralized team of operators was established in order to deal with any critical matters in managing and to appropriately control the various phases of the vaccination activity. This operational center is the fulcrum of the vaccination organization. Aim of the study: The study aims to provide an overview of the vaccination campaign against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the Local Health Authority of Viterbo. Specifically, the study aims to compare the trend of COVID cases with the start of the vaccination campaign. The trends of positives, hospitalizations and deaths have been compared with the progressive increase in vaccine administrations. Methods: The extrapolated data refer to the period January-September 2021. The following data were considered: • Population of the province of Viterbo • Epidemiology of COVID cases in the province of Viterbo • Number of positives, deaths and hospitalizations in the province of Viterbo • Number of immunized population in the province of Viterbo • Number of doses administered per type of vaccine • Percentage of vaccination coverage in the age groups 12-80+ Results: In the period January-September 2021, 387,932 doses were administered in the Local Health Authority of Viterbo, and a full-cycle coverage of 67% of the general population was achieved. The age group with the highest coverage includes persons aged > 80 years, with a value of 95%; the lowest coverage refers to the age groups 12-19 and 30-39 with a value of 52%. Referring to the number of administered doses, in all age groups the Comirnaty vaccine is prevalent for a significant percentage (77%). Conclusion: The introduction of vaccination has certainly affected the epidemiology of COVID disease, particularly the reduction not only of cases but also of hospitalizations and deaths. The coverage data and the monitoring of administrations are tools of fundamental importance to plan interventions following the achievement of high coverage. This enables to organize targeted interventions in contexts of low vaccine adhesions or in critical situations for the increase of COVID cases and outbreaks.