ECDC presents lessons learned from the response of Europe’s public health sector to the pandemic and highlights follow up actions addressing relevant issues which could improve Europe’s pandemic preparedness.
At the start of European Immunization Week, the ECDC report “Poliomyelitis situation update” reveals that between 2012 and 2021, approximately 2.4 million children in the EU/EEA may have not received three doses of polio-containing vaccines on time. Additionally, the newly published ECDC “Measles Annual Epidemiological Report 2022” highlights the risks when having pockets of an under-vaccinated population or groups not immunised at all.
To decrease the impact of COVID-19, and related hospitalisations and mortality, countries should plan for a continued roll-out of COVID vaccines in 2023.
ECDC and WHO/Europe have issued a statement announcing that the European Region remains a long way from meeting its End Tuberculosis Strategy targets, despite having the tools to do so.
The situation regarding avian influenza continues to evolve in Europe and globally, with reports of new outbreaks in birds and occasional infections in mammals. Sporadic human infections have been reported in countries outside the EU, while the risk to the public in the EU remains low.