Pre and Post Vaccination Program

As can happen with some pharmacological treatments, reactions can also arise following a vaccination.

These are effects that can occur locally, ie in the vicinity of the site where the administration took place, or at a general level.

The area of ​​the puncture where the vaccine was administered may be swollen, red or hard and the child may feel some pain.

On a general level, however, a very frequent reaction is represented by fever which is not infrequently accompanied by irritability and loss of appetite. Less frequent, but still to be included among the normal reactions, are vomiting and diarrhea. As can happen with any other drug, allergic reactions can occur even after a vaccine, sometimes even serious, but they are quite rare.

The AIFA 2018 Vaccine Report (the latest available to date) describes the vaccine surveillance activities conducted in Italy. (The reports can be found on the AIFA – Italian Medicines Agency website).

These activities consist in the monitoring and evaluation of reports of suspected adverse reactions to vaccines, both spontaneous (passive pharmacovigilance) and stimulated by appropriate independent studies (active pharmacovigilance), conducted by the Regions in collaboration with AIFA. All these reports are included in the National Pharmacovigilance Network and come from both health professionals and citizens.

ADVERSE EVENTS

An adverse event after immunization is any adverse event of a medical nature that occurs after a vaccination and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with it, but which requires further investigation (suspected adverse event occurring in temporal coincidence with the vaccination (s) /the).

In 2018, out of 7,267 reports, the most frequent adverse reactions (> 1,000 events) were those already known and expected and corresponding to fever (body temperature ≥ 38 °), local reactions at the injection site and generalized skin reactions (including skin rash type). Less common (> 500 and <1,000 events) were agitation / irritability, hyperpyrexia (body temperature ≥ 39.5 °), vomiting and urticaria adverse reactions. For most vaccines, these adverse reactions are described in the SPCs as very common and common. More rarely (under 400 overall events) other known adverse reactions such as diarrhea, vagal reactions (i.e. related to the vagus nerve, such as nausea, cramps, tachycardia, neuralgia, dizziness and fainting), asthenia, pain, crying, headache and lack of appetite. The other adverse reactions are below the value of 100 events and are among the rare and expected events, such as febrile convulsions. Some of those reported with a very rare frequency (less than 20 events) are characteristic of specific vaccines.

WHEN VACCINATION IS POSTPONED

Vaccinations are not carried out or are postponed in the following cases:

Presence of a febrile state over 38 ° C or of general ailments considered important

Presence of alterations in the immune system that may be due to congenital diseases, which lead to the decrease or absence of naturally produced antibodies or to a reduction in the immune defenses resulting from certain pathologies or for particular therapies, for example the administration of high doses of drugs containing cortisone.