Monitoring the web to support vaccine coverage: results of two years of the portal VaccinarSì.
OBJECTIVE
The increasingly widespread use of the Internet by the population to collect information regarding health and medical treatments and the circulation of many non-scientific documents on the effectiveness and safety of vaccines has led the Italian Society of Hygiene (SItI), in 2013, to promote a portal to provide scientific information that is verified and easily understood to counteract the rampant misinformation on health treatments and combat the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy.


METHODS
The project was launched in May 2013 and provides a portal with six main sections (vaccine preventable diseases, registered vaccines, benefits and risks of vaccination, against misinformation, pros & cons and travel immunizations) and other headings that relate to scientific events, comics and news coverage concerning vaccines. The contents are validated and evaluated by a scientific committee of high profile scientists and experts in computer-mediated communication.


RESULTS
In the first two years of activity, the portal has published more than 250 web pages on all aspects related to vaccinations. The number of individual users was 860,411, with a constant increase over time. Of these, about 21.7% returned to the website at least once. The total visits in 24 months were 1,099,670, with a total page count of 2,530,416. The frequency of contact was almost exclusively Italian (95.6%), with a higher proportion of males (54.1%) and younger age groups (25-34 years, 33.5%, and18-24 years, 27.5%). The data also show a significant position of the website in the major web search engines. The website has been certified by the Health On the Net Foundation. It is connected with the main social networks and it has recently opened its first regional section (Veneto).


CONCLUSIONS
The strong, progressive increase in web contacts, the involvement of several institutional bodies, and the appreciation of various stakeholders give an absolutely positive assessment of the first two years of the VaccinarSì project. The success of the website suggests future developments, with updates, sections devoted to regional problems, in-depth news analysis, and international expansion. The authors conclude that initiatives like this are to be implemented and constitute an effective way to counteract vaccine hesitancy.
Direzione sanitaria, Azienda ULSS 20 Verona.
Antonio
A
Ferro
Dip. Scienze biomediche, biotecnologiche e translazionali, Università di Parma, Italy. anna.odone@mail.harvard.edu.
Anna
A
Odone
Dip. Sanità pubblica, medicina clinica e molecolare, Università di Cagliari, Italy.
Andrea
A
Siddu
Dip. Medicina molecolare, Istituto igiene, Università di Padova, Italy.
Massimiliano
M
Colucci
Dip. Medicina molecolare, Istituto igiene, Università di Padova, Italy.
Paola
P
Anello
Dip. Medicina molecolare, Istituto igiene, Università di Padova, Italy.
Michela
M
Longone
Dip. Medicina molecolare, Istituto igiene, Università di Padova, Italy.
Elena
E
Marcon
Struttura Igiene e medicina preventiva, Dip. Scienze biomediche, Università-AOU di Sassari, Italy.
Paolo
P
Castiglia
Dip. Scienze della salute, Sezione igiene, medicina preventiva e sanità pubblica, Università di Firenze, Italy.
Paolo
P
Bonanni
Dip. Scienze biomediche, biotecnologiche e translazionali, Università di Parma, Italy.|Presidente Società Italiana di Igiene, Medicina Preventiva e Sanità Pubblica.
Carlo
C
Signorelli
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D007255:Information Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060756:Social Networking; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014611:Vaccination / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014612:Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects; D055815:Young Adult
D014612:Vaccines