a School of Medicine , University Vita-Salute San Raffaele , Milan , Italy.
b Department of Medicine and Surgery , University of Parma , Parma , Italy.
Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2018;14(10):2533-2536. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2018.1486156. Epub 2018 Jul 11.
Immunization polices in Italy has recently reached important milestones, including the approval of the National Immunization Prevention Plan and of a new law mandatory immunization; this stimulating a lively debate at the scientific, political and societal-level, reflected on the media. We applied a model previously published to quantitatively and qualitatively assess media coverage on vaccines and immunization-related topics on the most read Italian newspaper, "Corriere della Sera", over an 11-year study period (2007-2017). We retrieved relevant key words and articles, reported on included articles' topic, position, approach to immunization and on other selected indicators' summary statistics, temporal trends and correspondence with key epidemiological and policy events. Over the study period the quote "vaccin*" was mentioned on average 325 times per year; with an increase of 150% after the approval of the new law on mandatory immunization in 2017. In the same year, on average, two first-page articles per week were published on the topic. We report a clear association between key events (i.e the H1N1 influenza pandemic, the "Fluad case", the approval of the new law on mandatory immunization) and their media coverage. Overall, 84% of articles had a positive attitude towards immunization, this share decreasing to 79% when only considering articles published after the approval of the law on mandatory vaccination. Media play a crucial role in channelling health-related information and significantly influence health behaviours. We urge public institutions, health authorities and the scientific community not to underestimate the opportunity to monitor media coverage on key healthcare topics and to convey evidence-based health education messages through the media.
意大利的免疫政策最近取得了重要的里程碑，包括批准国家免疫预防计划和新的强制性免疫法；这在科学、政治和社会层面引发了激烈的辩论，反映在媒体上。我们应用了之前发表的一种模型，对意大利最受欢迎的报纸《晚邮报》在 11 年的研究期间（2007-2017 年）关于疫苗和免疫相关主题的媒体报道进行了定量和定性评估。我们检索了相关的关键词和文章，报道了包括文章的主题、立场、免疫方法以及其他选定指标的汇总统计数据、时间趋势和与关键流行病学和政策事件的对应关系。在研究期间，“vaccin*”一词平均每年被提及 325 次；在 2017 年新的强制性免疫法批准后，增加了 150%。同年，每周平均有两篇头版文章讨论这个话题。我们报告了关键事件（即 H1N1 流感大流行、“Fluad 案例”、新的强制性免疫法的批准）与其媒体报道之间的明确关联。总体而言，84%的文章对免疫持积极态度，而在只考虑新的强制性疫苗接种法批准后的文章时，这一比例降至 79%。媒体在传播与健康相关的信息方面发挥着至关重要的作用，并对健康行为产生重大影响。我们敦促公共机构、卫生当局和科学界不要低估监测媒体对关键医疗保健主题的报道的机会，并通过媒体传达基于证据的健康教育信息。
