The Ministry of Health has recently established a National Immunisation Information System (IIS), through the Ministerial Decree of 17 September 2018 published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 257/20181. The aim of the electronic registry is to facilitate estimation of vaccine coverage, monitor the nation-wide implementation of the National Immunisation Plan (NIP) throughout the national territory; and to provide information both to the international bodies and for administrative tasks.
The need to create a single IIS from 21 regional registers was agreed upon in the State-Regions Conference of 19 January 2017, and highlighted on the National Immunisation Plan 2017-20192. The Ministerial Decree of 17 September 2018 defines the information that all Italian regions and autonomous provinces must provide to the Ministry of Health, including:
1) vaccinated individuals;
2) individuals to be vaccinated;
3) subjects already immunised after natural infection;
4) subjects temporarily or permanently exempted for health reasons;
5) doses and timing of administrated vaccines.
The IIS should be linked to the national databases of communicable diseases and adverse events.
The national IIS will aggregate individual records from the regional registries and, through a more precise estimate of vaccination coverage, will improve the monitoring activities of the programs in place, and identify areas where extraordinary interventions are required. Furthermore, in order to maintain updated regional vaccine registries, the national IIS will make available to the Regions information related to citizens who will modify their residence. The Ministry of Health will have access only to anonymised information. The first upload of files from the regional authorities is expected by April 2019.
The last update of Italian regional IISs characteristics and functionalities are presented elsewhere3.
Vincenza Gianfredi
PH resident, University of Perugia, Italy
References:
1. Ministero della Salute [Ministry of Health]. Decreto del Ministero della Salute: Istituzione dell’Anagrafe nazionale vaccini [Decree of Ministry of Health: Establishment of a National Immunisation Information System] 17 September 2018 published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 257/2018
2. Ministero della Salute [Ministry of Health]. Piano Nazionale di Prevenzione Vaccinale 2017-2019 [National Plan of Vaccination Prevention 2017-2019]. 3 Apr 2018. Rome: Ministry of Health; 2018. Available from: http://www.salute.gov.it/imgs/C_17_pubblicazioni_2571_allegato.pdf
3. D’Ancona F, Gianfredi V, Riccardo F, Iannazzo S. Immunisation Registries at regional level in Italy and the roadmap for a future Italian National Registry. Ann Ig. 2018 Mar-Apr;30(2):77-85. doi: 10.7416/ai.2018.2199.