In connection with the European Immunization Week, ECDC releases data indicating an increase in cases of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and pertussis, after decreased levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this report, we present an update of the 2020 primary systematic review, to take into account more recent evidence on the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of newer and/or enhanced seasonal influenza vaccines for the prevention of laboratory-confirmed influenza in individuals aged 18 years and over.
Avian influenza viruses (AIV) remain prevalent among wild bird populations in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), leading to significant illness in and death of birds.
Influenza is a disease of public health importance due to the substantial seasonal morbidity and mortality and the high pandemic potential of its aetiologic agents, influenza viruses.
The European Respiratory Diseases Forecasting Hub (RespiCast) is open for weekly submission of several respiratory disease indicators such as influenza-like-illness, acute respiratory infection and COVID-19.
Several viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens are expected to continue co-circulating at variable levels during the coming months, and contribute to increased morbidity and mortality during this period. This is typical of every winter season.
Genetic and antigenic characterization data generated at the Worldwide Influenza Centre for viruses with collection dates after 31 January 2023 until 31 August 2023 informed the WHO influenza vaccine composition meeting (VCM) in September 2023 when recommendations were made for the southern hemisphere (SH) 2024 influenza season.