Influenza: Only one in three elderly people in Sardinia has been vaccinated.
Coverage is 36.7% among those over 65, well below the Italian average which however falls below 50% for the first time in ten years
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Last winter, 7.2 million people over 65 were vaccinated against influenza in Italy . Umbria was the region with the highest rate of vaccination, at 62%, while the Autonomous Province of Trento ranked last. However, the comparison with the previous season is worrying, with a 2.7 percentage point drop in vaccination rates for those over 65 , bringing national coverage below 50% for the first time in ten years.
This is highlighted by data published on the Ministry of Health website , which speak of a "decreasing trend in recent seasons" with a gap "absolutely to be filled", warn family doctors.
COVERAGE – In 2025-2026 , coverage has in fact dropped from 52.5% in 2024-2025 to 49.8%, a figure far from the minimum target of 75% vaccinations, a percentage never reached in Italy, not even in the golden periods, when, in 2005-2006, 68.3% of the target population was vaccinated.
After a progressive decline, coverage rebounded upwards with the Covid-19 pandemic, reaching 65% in 2020-2021 , before resuming a decline that is still ongoing.
ON THE ISLAND – In Sardinia, data show a slight decline in vaccination coverage among the elderly, which fell from 37.6% to 36.7% between 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 . This is still significantly lower than the national average, with only one in three elderly people vaccinated during the period under consideration. Overall vaccination coverage on the island, however, has increased by two percentage points in two years, from 13.6% to 15.65% , thus representing an increase in vaccinations among the youngest age group.
For Niccolò Biancalani, secretary of the Italian Federation of General Practitioners (FIMMG), another factor to consider is "the population's vaccine hesitancy, which arose in the post-Covid pandemic and which absolutely must be overcome. Because the vaccine is a mass prevention weapon that must be fully exploited to protect, especially the most vulnerable, from the complications of influenza," including potentially lethal pneumonia.
As for this year's campaign , Biancalani concludes, "it started late, partly for meteorological reasons , given the heat that lasted until mid-October, but it's now in full swing. The vaccines are available, they've arrived in the regions, and the population is responding well. There are no major problems, except for the Campania region, where a shortage of doses had been reported."
