A study on the effectiveness of mandatory vaccination in reducing health risks among expatriates and the role of occupational physicians in vaccination follow-up.
Extract
[...] In addition, a gap like this can mean that vaccination coverage is not optimal and that some expatriates are exposed to a higher risk of disease. This mismatch could also lead to forgetfulness, delays, or even missed reminders. Therefore, data analysis should also include a check on vaccination dates and reminders made to detect any potential gaps in expatriate vaccination coverage. In order to solve these problems, several solutions can be considered. The first consists of setting up a reminder system via email or through a dedicated application, which sends automatic reminders every time an expatriate needs to receive a reminder. [...]
[...] This shows that vaccination among expatriates reduces the number of people affected by hepatitis A. For DT-Polio, the high vaccination rate among colleagues eliminates the risk of this disease among expatriates, thus validating hypothesis mandatory vaccination reduces or eliminates the risk of diseases among expatriates. However, several factors must be taken into account. Firstly, the improvement of the situation of healthcare infrastructure and access to clean water in certain expatriation areas may also have contributed to this decline. In any case, it is not possible to attribute this success solely to vaccination. [...]
[...] The well-followed vaccination has allowed to eliminate the risk of typhoid (figure 3). For DTPolio, the absence of this pathology among the collaborators confirms hypothesis 1. Figure 4 - Number of Vaccinated against Hepatitis A (1st dose) Figure 5 - Number of Vaccinated against Hepatitis A (2nd dose) In order to verify whether the hepatitis A vaccine eliminates the risk of infection, we have represented the number of vaccinated against this disease per year. Furthermore, we have identified 4 cases of hepatitis A to study the correlation between the year in which they were infected and the year of their vaccinations. [...]
[...] This observation clearly attests to it: vaccination is effective and the adopted prevention strategy has proven itself. However, it is necessary to analyze this hypothesis in depth: can we really attribute this non-reappearance of diseases to vaccination, or have other factors intervened? Indeed, there may also be no cases of typhoid or hepatitis A among expatriates due to changes in their facilities. The improvement of sanitary facilities, access to safer drinking water, and more frequent food advice to the public would also intervene to reduce these two diseases. [...]
[...] If vaccines are effective, the issue of vaccine follow-up remains a major problem among expatriates. As the study shows, there are many flaws in the follow-up of vaccine booster shots, and particularly for vaccines that require a second booster shot at short intervals, such as that against hepatitis A. In fact expatriates did not respect the optimal periodicity between their two injections for the disease, exposing expatriates to an unnecessary risk of contamination. In addition, the frequency of medical visits, set at every two years, does not seem sufficient for optimal vaccination follow-up. [...]
