Drive in vaccination uddevalla
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As for minor events, two cases of pre-syncope and two of syncope were registered; these were probably due to the high summer temperatures combined with emotional factors especially in the case of an adolescent. The drive-through vaccination site was a tent, generally provided by local volunteers, equipped with all the standard equipment of an in-hospital ambulatory setting:. Before each vaccination session, the personnel were responsible for checking that the above-listed material was present in an adequate quantity.
In North Carolina [ 15 ] and New Mexico [ 16 , 17 ] flu vaccines have also been occasionally administered in the drive-through modality in the last two decades. During the current COVID pandemic, drive-through vaccination has become more common and is now being adopted in several contexts. Federal government websites often end in.
In , too, no major adverse events were reported, whereas 20 minor events occurred: headache, paresthesia, pre-syncope and syncope.
During each session, appointments were initially scheduled at a rate of one every five minutes. Drive-through site outside San Martino Hospital in Belluno; right: a line of cars queuing before vaccination; left: the tent; center: cars parked after vaccination. Subjects were invited to attend for anti-TBE vaccination according to priorities defined on the basis of the preexisting waiting list. For this purpose, the World Health Organization WHO provided some guiding principles for routine immunization activities during the pandemic [ 2 , 3 ].
Here, we describe the experience of the Province of Belluno Veneto Region , a vast alpine territory where over 12, people have been vaccinated against tick-borne encephalitis TBE since the beginning of summer by means of the drive-through modality. By the end of August , a total of 12, doses of vaccine against TBE first, second, third and booster doses had been administered to 12, people at the various sites in the Province of Belluno Tab.
Number of doses of anti-TBE vaccine administered at each of the three sites from 24th June to 31st August , and number of people who were vaccinated; 91 people in Belluno received both the first and the second doses. This innovative modality had previously been experimented internationally for vaccinations [ 5 , 6 ], and has recently been widely adopted for the administration of swab tests for COVID [ ].
The remaining personnel consisted of two healthcare assistants or nurses, one of whom administered the pre-vaccination questionnaire and registered each vaccination on the regional software, while the other administered the vaccine. These guidelines included recommendations to: ensure hygiene, ventilation, and social distancing among healthcare workers and children in waiting rooms and in the rooms devoted to vaccination; minimize the number of rooms visited by combining medical examinations and vaccination during the same visit; specifically train the dedicated healthcare personnel; allocate separate areas for immunization services in hospitals, if possible; and temporarily avoid mass vaccination campaigns.
In New South Wales, Australia, for instance, local health authorities have drawn up guidelines for general practitioners who choose the drive-through option for seasonal influenza vaccination [ 19 ]. To our knowledge, this is the first case-report on anti-TBE vaccination carried out by means of the drive-through modality during a worldwide pandemic.
Overall, in , 18, doses of vaccine against TBE have been administered, including 6, doses administered in outpatient departments at the beginning of the year, before the lock-down, and 12, doses administered up to the end of August in the drive-through modality. Specifically, in the USA, drive-through vaccinations were first carried out more than 20 years ago in Kentucky [ 6 , ], and have been repeated yearly ever since.
Most cases are notified between April and October, and males between 50 and 70 years old are most frequently involved.
Moreover, analysis of the trend in anti-TBE vaccinations in the Province of Belluno reveals that the number of people requesting vaccination has steadily increased since this free-of-charge service was introduced in May [ 11 ]. The Province of Belluno, in the Veneto Region, is a mountainous territory in the Alps, in North-eastern Italy, with a population of , In the period , cases of TBE were notified in this territory, with a mean incidence rate IR of 5.
In Europe, the British National Health Service provided drive-through vaccination against measles-mumps-rubella and papillomavirus for adolescents during the summer [ 20 ].
How Do Drive-Through COVID-19 Vaccinations Work?
The personnel responsible for the procurement of vaccines had to request the vaccine doses from the hospital pharmacy, possibly well in advance, in accordance with the schedule of vaccination sessions, in order to avoid any shortage. In this scenario, drive-through vaccination has emerged as a rapid and safe means of immunizing large numbers of young people and adults whose vaccinations were due in the full pandemic period March-May and whose appointments had to be rescheduled.
No major adverse events occurred. According to the literature, drive-through vaccination has been implemented in some other countries, though almost exclusively for mass immunization against seasonal influenza. A fourth site, in the small town of Caprile, was being opened at the time when this article was written.
In this context, new strategies were required, in order to deal with the backlog of postponed appointments as soon as the COVID epidemiological scenario would allow at least partial resumption of routine healthcare services.
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The appointments were communicated by telephone or letter, together with the following information:. Each of the four locations had previously been inspected by technicians and IT specialists from the Local Health Unit and by the Hygiene and Public Health Service, in order to evaluate the spaces available, check the electricity supply and Internet connection, and determine the pathways through and the positioning of the vaccination sites.
An auxiliary operator patrolled the post-vaccination parking area to check for the possible occurrence of adverse reactions. Priority was given to:. Subsequently, the high volume of requests made it necessary to schedule one appointment every two minutes, in order to vaccinate approximately 30 people per hour, and finally one every minute. Most vaccinations were therefore suspended unless urgent or scheduled for children aged years [ 1 ].
During each session, a medical doctor had to be available - either physically present at the drive-through site if this was far from the local hospital or able to reach the site rapidly in the event necessity if the site was within the perimeter of the local hospital. These figures compare favorably with those recorded in the previous year: indeed, after May , when the free-of-charge TBE vaccination was introduced, inhabitants of the province received at least one dose of vaccine and 13, doses were administered overall in , according to the regional database.
Following the first minor events, all vaccinees were strongly recommended to leave their car windows open. In these and other [ 18 ] American contexts, drive-through vaccination proved successful in immunizing local communities against seasonal influenza.