Date: Thursday, 3 February 2022
Time: 1.00pm – 2.30pm GMT (2.00pm – 3.30pm CET)

At this event, we launched our report, Hitting new heights: Improving vaccination uptake among patients with chronic conditions across Europe, produced in partnership with the Coalition for Life-course Immunisation (CLCI).

This event was chaired by Dr Daphné Holt (Chair, CLCI).

Speakers included:

• MEP Cyrus Engerer (Member, Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety)
• François Houÿez (Treatment Information and Access Director & Health Policy Advisor, European Organisation for Rare Diseases)
• Mariano Votta (Director, Active Citizenship Network)
• Sibilia Quilici (Executive Director, Vaccines Europe)
• Susanna Palkonen (Director, European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations)
• Patrick Swain (Research and Projects Officer, ILC and report author)

The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a stark reminder about the importance of immunisation. This is especially true in individuals with underlying health conditions, who are at greater risk of severe illness from vaccine-preventable diseases. Despite this, routine vaccination uptake among patients with chronic conditions across Europe remains concerningly low – so far, no EU Member State has reached the WHO/Europe influenza vaccine uptake target of 75% for clinical risk groups.

Through conversations with European policymakers, patient charities, and healthcare networks, CLCI and ILC are producing a report outlining current practices, common barriers, and potential opportunities for vaccinating those with underlying health conditions across Europe. From this, we are making a series of recommendations for policymakers, healthcare organisations, and charities at a European level to incentivise better uptake among this cohort.

In this webinar, we shared our new findings and recommendations on how to improve routine vaccination uptake among European chronic condition patients, and our expert panel responded to these findings.