A pilot measles vaccination campaign in Italy

Abstract

A pilot measles mass vaccination campaign was conducted in a small town in northern Italy (1637 target children), in order to estimate the participation rate and to anticipate operational problems associated with mass measles immunisation in this country. Of the target children, 89·6% accepted the preliminary serological analysis. The age of 50% immune prevalence was 5·1 years, with a good concordance between serological results by age and history of measles. Eighty-two percent of tested children were vaccinated; 96% of them seroconverted obtaining a good immunisation (GMT 20·7). Side-effects (fever, rash, mild abdominal pain, respiratory distress) were observed in 39% of vaccinated children with a marked decrease in the oldest age groups. Similar symptoms were reported in 19% of unvaccinated children chosen as control group. Five years after the initial vaccination campaign, most children are routinely vaccinated against measles and no measles outbreaks have been observed in the town.