This year, European Immunization Week, marked between 23 and 29 April, reminds us about the importance of timely routine vaccination and why we need to catch up on any missed or postponed vaccines and booster doses.
Several routine vaccines are available for all age groups – young children, teenagers, adults and elderly – to protect us from dangerous diseases like measles, rubella, hepatitis or meningitis, just to name a few. The disruptions caused by COVID-19 in healthcare and in our personal lives have led to serious delays in getting routine vaccines, causing significant consequences in our communities across the European Union (EU).
Let’s take the example of measles. Two decades ago this virus was a major killer of children. Measles is six times more infectious than influenza and one in five people may develop severe disease or complications. Between 2000 and 2018, deaths from measles declined by three quarters (73%) worldwide, with vaccines preventing an estimated 23.2 million deaths during this period.
Despite the obvious benefits of the protection against measles and other childhood diseases, over 1.2 million children in the WHO European Region have missed a vaccination to protect them against measles, mumps and rubella since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, a recently published UNICEF report shows that 67 million children worldwide “missed out on one or more vaccinations over three years due to service disruption caused by strained health systems and diversion of scarce resources, conflict and fragility, and decreased confidence” in immunization.
The European Immunization Week should be a call to action for every European citizen.
We cannot stay passive in the face of threats like measles, polio, diphtheria or tetanus.
We must not fail to keep up with immunization against rubella. Unvaccinated pregnant women who get rubella are at high risk of miscarriage or congenital rubella syndrome in their babies.
We cannot fall behind in vaccinating teenagers and children aged 9-14 against HPV. The infection with this virus in boys and girls can lead to some cancers later in life, when they are adult women and men.
Finally, we must protect the elderly. They are at high risk of hospitalisation or death when they catch a virus.
Timely vaccination is key.
I want to remind everyone that vaccines have been used for decades in millions of people. The EU has very strict rules for the authorisation of vaccines, to protect you and your family. Once vaccines are in use, we at the European Medicines Agency are continuously monitoring their safety, so any adverse effects can be promptly detected, investigated and managed.
Understanding how vaccines work can save your life or the life of someone you love. I encourage you, regardless of your age and location, to start a conversation with your doctor, pharmacist or nurse about immunization. Check out the vaccination schedule for your age group, but also for your parents and for your children. Write down your questions and discuss them with healthcare professionals; they will be able to give you the guidance you need.
Finally, given the unprecedented amount of disinformation we are seeing, please make sure you get your facts from trustworthy, science-based sources. Internet search results are not always correct, and random opinions flooding social media platforms don’t always have your best interest at heart and should not be easily labelled as scientific data. The European Vaccination Information Portal (EVIP) is a useful and validated resource that provides content in all EU languages and can help you to stay informed about vaccines and vaccination schedules in Europe. If you want to get reliable information, this is an excellent starting point.
ema.europa.eu
