Recenti Prog Med. 2026 Jun;117(6):288-294. doi: 10.1701/4716.47323.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In the Italian Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Herpes Zoster (HZ) vaccination of actively offered free of charge to the population at age 65. Vaccination uptake is below the goal of coverage ≥50% set in the national vaccination plan.
OBJECTIVE: We set up a pilot project with a small number of General Practitioners (GPs) of the Health Authority of Udine, to assess whether GPs can catch-up patients invited for vaccination the previous year but not attending the appointment.
METHODS: Twelve GPs voluntarily adhering to the project were provided from the Vaccination Center with 10 doses of vaccine each, corresponding to the immunization of 5 individuals. They contacted patients born in 1959 not adhering to the previous invitation and proposed to immunize them. We assessed whether vaccination coverages increased among patients followed by those GPs and the feasibility of contacting the patient and handling the vaccine.
RESULTS: Among participating GPs, from July to December 2025, coverage of patients in the cohort of interest increased from 42.9% to 63.4%. Although some physicians had difficulties in managing the vaccine and some reported that contacting patients is extremely time-consuming, the overall judgment of feasibility of both the contact and information of patients and of the actual vaccine administration was excellent.
CONCLUSION: This pilot project suggests that the collaboration with GPs can strongly contribute to improve HZ vaccine uptake. Since such collaboration was considered feasible, more GPs from the same Health Authority may be involved.
PMID:42301627 | DOI:10.1701/4716.47323
