Tolerability and efficacy of anti-influenza vaccination alone and associated with antipneumococcal vaccination in an elderly ambulatory population and adherence to the vaccination campaign

The objective of our work has been to identify the reasons for the lack of adherence to the vaccination campaigns by part of the elderly population. For this reason we have evaluated the clinical tolerability and efficacy of anti-influenza vaccination alone or associated with antipneumococcal vaccination as well as the efficacy of a vaccination strategy based on personalised information by adequately trained staff. During the months of October-November 2002, at the Geriatrics Task Force of the Ospedale Maggiore di Milano, IRCCS, we enrolled in our study 374 elderly subjects from the geriatric ambulatory or the day hospital. We found that 81% of the subjects enrolled adhered to the vaccination plan without any significant difference in the acceptance of either the single or double vaccination. The side effects were fairly minor and did not require the intervention of a General Practitioner or hospitalisation. As expected, compared with non-vaccinated subjects, the vaccinations reduced the incidence of influenza syndromes. The elderly subjects refusing to be vaccinated were characterised by weakened intellectual capacity, lower mood and better physical condition. The high level of adherence that we obtained seems to indicate that personalised information is the way to increase adherence to vaccination campaigns by the elderly.