Flu vaccination coverage in Italy 2021-2022, by age group

The flu vaccination coverage in Italy during the flu season 2021-2022 varied greatly based on the age group. According to the data, around 58.1 percent of individuals aged 65 years and older got vaccinated against the flu. The Italian region with the highest rate of elderly people who received the flu vaccination was Umbria, with almost 70 percent of people over 65 years receiving the vaccine. Coverage rates for all other age groups was much lower. For instance, only around 13.7 percent of individuals aged between 45 and 64 years were vaccinated. Overall, 20.5 percent of Italians were vaccinated against the flu in the period under consideration.

Flu vaccination among the elderly

As shown by this statistic, people over 65 years are the ones who had the highest flu vaccination rate in Italy during the flu season 2021-2022. This group is among those recommended by the Italian Ministry of Health to get vaccinated against seasonal flu. Several countries in the OECD have a higher flu vaccination coverage than Italy. For example, in Korea almost 86 percent of elderly people had received an influenza vaccination in 2019.

Vaccination over time

Influenza viruses change often and for this reason the vaccination must be repeated every year. In Italy, the percentage of people getting vaccinated against seasonal flu during the last two decades varied greatly. Especially with the outbreak of COVID-19, in 2020 there was a steep increase in people getting vaccinated against influenza. Indeed, between 2020 and 2021, around 23.7 percent of people received a flu vaccination, while the year before this rate amounted to 16.8 percent.