Compliance with immunization and a biological risk assessment of health care workers as part of an occupational health surveillance program: The experience of a university hospital in southern Italy

The active immunization of health care workers (HCWs) is a primary measure to prevent noso- comial infection; despite this, vaccine coverage among HCWs in most countries is low. To increase vaccine coverage in the health care setting, the hygiene and occupational medicine departments of Bari Policlinico General University-Hospital implemented a vaccination procedure. This operative procedure requires that during the occupational medical examination, all employees are evaluated for immunity/susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases, with vaccination offered to those determined to be susceptible.