As of 2 December 2021, and since 1 December 2021, 20 additional SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC cases have been confirmed, bringing the total to 79 confirmed cases.
On 1 December, ECDC published Interim Public Health Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccination of Children following EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) recommendation from 25 November to grant an extension of indication for the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty, to include use in children aged 5 to 11 years.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published a new Threat Assessment Brief on the new variant of concern (VOC) B.1.1.529, or Omicron. Based on currently available genetic information, the risks of this VOC are high, according to preliminary data.
A new study by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published in Eurosurveillance estimates that 470,000 lives have been saved among those aged 60 years and over since the start of COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in 33 countries across the WHO European Region.
Recent modelling scenarios run by ECDC indicate that the potential burden of disease in the EU/EEA from the Delta variant will be very high in December and January unless public health measures are applied now in combination with continued efforts to increase vaccine uptake in the total population.
On 10 November 2021 ECDC released an updated version of its COVID- 19 Vaccine Tracker with additional information, new indicators, and improved features for visualisation.
The Flu Awareness Campaign is marked across the WHO European Region every year in October. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination for people’s health and well-being and to increase the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination of people with underlying risk factors.
Although the overall number of influenza detections in the majority of EU/EEA countries is still low, indications show that influenza circulation is above the seasonal threshold in Croatia, which is unusually early. The main reported subtype among the cases recorded in EU/EEA during the past month is A(H3N2), which disproportionally affects older people, and is associated with lower vaccine effectiveness. This is a sign that the upcoming influenza season could be severe for elderly people, and that influenza patterns may vary between countries in terms of timing.
On October 15, ECDC published the report “Facilitating COVID-19 vaccination acceptance and uptake in the EU/EEA” which aims to further support Member States in identifying barriers to the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination, and designing and implementing interventions aimed at increasing vaccination coverage.
ECDC is creating new infrastructure to allow for regular monitoring and analysis of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) over time, using a multi-country approach, through the implementation of studies in different settings.