European Immunisation Week (EIW) is celebrated alongside World Immunisation Week in the last week of April. Annually, the week highlights the collective action needed to promote the use of vaccines to protect the general health and well-being of people of all ages.

HaDEA manages many EU-funded projects and initiatives related to immunisation and vaccines. An ongoing EU4Health call for tenders is also aiming to set up multiple sourcing framework contracts with economic operators to speed up the development of next generation influenza vaccines.

Furthermore, HaDEA also manages EU-funded projects aimed at overcoming vaccine hesitancy, promoting good vaccination practices and improving vaccine uptake. Next to combatting vaccine misinformation and hesitancy, other HaDEA projects are also developing new vaccines against a wide spectrum of pathogens, ranging from viruses to bacteria and parasites, which are a threat to our health.

EU4Health

The co-OPERATOR project aims to identify systemic barriers and facilitators for promoting vaccination messages in Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Portugal. To this end, the project is collecting, organising and disseminating knowledge, best practices and resources related to stakeholder strategies used for vaccination against COVID-19 and other diseases. The project will create a knowledge hub, virtual observatory and training programme based on previous successful promotion efforts countering vaccine hesitancy.

VAX-ACTION aims to customise interventions that address vaccine hesitancy in targeted populations – such as newly arrived migrants, hesitant parents, individuals of low socio-economic status – in Portugal, Italy, France, Romania and Czechia. The project will:

• Determine the effectiveness of available interventions through a comprehensive mapping;
• Analyse and redesign unsuccessful interventions;
• Assess the replicability potential of each intervention in an EU-wide context and beyond.

EUVABECO aims to develop implementation plans for EU countries, providing them with operational and technical tools that improve vaccination practices, both for routine immunisation and in preparation for future outbreaks. The project will be:

• Providing a vaccination decision support system to healthcare professionals and patients;
• Screening populations from existing databases for vaccination motivation;
• Promoting the use of neutral, common EU packaging and replacing paper leaflets with Electronic Patient Information Leaflets (ePIL);
• Generating model-based evidence to predict the impact of interventions;
• Providing implementation plans for the uptake of a portable digital vaccination card.

Joint Action PERCH is a powerful example of how collaboration, peer support, evidence-based communication and shared tools can accelerate progress toward the WHO goal of eliminating cervical cancer. All 27 EU countries and 93% of European countries have now integrated HPV vaccination into their national immunisation schedules and almost all have adopted gender-neutral strategies.

The Joint Action has also developed a national HPV communication strategy guide, supporting countries in countering misinformation and improving vaccine awareness. This guide has already served as a basis for national HPV communication strategies in 7 EU countries.

Furthermore, as part of PERCH:

• HPV vaccination actions have been launched in 12 EU countries, focusing on increasing vaccination coverage through innovative campaigns and local strategies;
• 13 countries have conducted national assessments of HPV vaccine hesitancy through literature reviews, parent surveys and school-based focus groups;
• 17500 health professionals across 11 countries have been trained using a shared communication curriculum;
• More than 80 national experts have joined the HPV Vaccination Guild – a unique European network of expertise in HPV and communication.

The recently finished ReThinkHPVaccination project has been focusing on supporting EU and neighbouring countries in rethinking and restarting their campaigns on HPV vaccination. Although HPV cancers are some of the most preventable forms of cancer, vaccine uptake rates s remain low in some European countries. To increase HPV vaccination awareness and uptake in countries with low vaccination rates, the project has:

• Developed personalised communication strategies and training programmes and organised 12 training sessions in Romania as part of a pilot programme
• Worked together with the Knowledge Centre on Cancer of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre to create a Virtual Knowledge Centre on HPV vaccination;
• Put together a handbook tackling vaccine disinformation in Romania;
• Effectively disseminated knowledge and combatted misinformation on HPV vaccination across all targeted countries, reaching over 11 million people in total.

NOSEVAC aims to develop innovative nasal vaccines to protect against respiratory diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Bordetella species, influenza viruses, and SARS-CoV-2. The project is addressing limitations of current injectable vaccines by enhancing immunity at the upper respiratory tract, the airway entry point, thus preventing early colonisation, transmission and disease. Researchers have already identified six essential genes for lung colonisation by Streptococcus pneumoniae and are evaluating two proteins as potential nasal vaccine candidates. A patent has also been submitted for new methods to grow Bordetella bacteria.

Relevant links

World Immunisation Week

European Immunisation Week

EU-funded project: overcoming obstacles to vaccination

Background

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders.

Horizon Europe is the research and innovation programme of the EU for the period 2021-2027. The aims of Cluster 1 ‘Health’ include improving and protecting the health and well-being of citizens of all ages by generating new knowledge, developing innovative solutions and integrating where relevant a gender perspective to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat and cure diseases. Horizon 2020 (H2020) was the EU’s multiannual funding programme between 2014 and 2020.