Attività del gruppo vaccini della SItI e calendario vaccinale per la vita

As a consequence of the revised title 5th of the Italian Constitution, the regional devolution on health organization has led to a significant five-year drift in the vaccination offer following the absence of a National Immunization Plan. Thus, the Società Italiana di Igiene Medicina Preventiva e Sanità Pubblica (SItI) identified the need to provide disoriented public health operators a scientific support for a larger immunization offer based on the equity principles. Consequently, the SItI Vaccine Working Group issued numerous evidence-based recommendations on the immunization policies and practices (for instance, the Childhood Immunization Schedule, the Adulthood Immunization Schedule, and so on), based on the interactive discussions with other national scientific societies and all the stakeholders in the field. Eventually, it is worthwhile to mention the last outcome of this fruitful cooperation: the Immunization Schedule for Life, issued in March 2012. It emphasizes the early start of adequate vaccination practices in the childhood, followed by the integration of other relevant immunization practices in the adolescence and adulthood until the elderly. This holistic and integrated approach could allow to reach the quality objectives, underlined in the new 2012-2014 National Prevention Plan, and to satisfy the equity principle of a homogeneous vaccination offer countrywide.