As part of the Salute in Comune 2025 event, on Friday 16 May 2025 at 13:45, the meeting ‘Vaccines and Big Pharma, between sustainability, profit, and the right to health; ethical aspects’ will be held in the Sala del Camino of Palazzo Martinengo delle Palle (Via San Martino della Battaglia 18, Brescia).
Vaccine prevention saves direct and indirect costs that favour the sustainability of countries' socio-health and economic systems. Yet almost 80% of European countries spend less than 0.5% of their health expenditure on immunisation programmes. Italy is the country with the longest life expectancy in Europe; promoting the culture of vaccination through targeted communication campaigns is, therefore, an important element in protecting the health of everyone and, above all, the elderly. If vaccinating the largest part of the world's population is desirable for the very good of humanity, on the other hand, the production and distribution of vaccines depend on the relationship between sovereign states and Big Pharma, which is able to condition the fate of populations, especially in the world's poor countries.