Accesso alla vaccinazione COVID-19 in Italia nel periodo 2020-2023 da parte degli stranieri non residenti: opportunità, sfide e criticità

Introduction During COVID-19 vaccination campaign, foreign population not resident in Italy was included in the vaccination plans. This study aimed to describe the COVID-19 vaccination access and to assess the possibility to estimate vaccination coverage in this population. Materials and methods Data of vaccinated population was retrieved from the National Vaccine Registry (NVR). Foreign population not resident in Italy, foreign population temporarily present and EU citizens not registered in the Italian Health System were respectively identified through provisional numerical tax code, STP code, and ENI code. Resident population born in Italy and that born abroad, both were identified through the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Results In the period from 27 December 2020 to 14 June 2023, foreigners not resident in Italy who received the COVID-19 vaccination were only 0.38% of the total vaccinated population and 3.47% of the foreign vaccinated population. The information on “citizenship” was not always recorded in the NVR. Discussion and conclusions Difficulties in accessing COVID-19 vaccinations for foreigners not resident in Italy have created inequity in health and the process requires further efforts to overcome organisational, administrative and data collection challenges necessary to ensure fair and universal access to vaccinations for all persons present in the territory, regardless of their legal status or country of origin. The study highlighted the impossibility of calculating the vaccination coverage of non-resident foreigners and the need of improving collection of already existing variables and of including the necessary ones for assessing the health of migrants in the information systems.