In its latest report on the 2019/2020 flu outbreak, the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control (ECDC) says older people are at particularly risk from the strain of flu virus currently circulating. Modest improvements have also been recorded by Iceland, Ireland, Finland and Portugal but, overall, the picture is discouraging.Īs experts call on policy makers to focus on life-course immunisation, the dire flu stats show much work remains to be done. A further six countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Poland) did not report 2017/2018 data. Six countries (Romania, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia and Estonia) report flu vaccine uptake rates below 20%. These countries are the only ones to have ever crossed the 75% threshold – but have not sustained earlier progress.Īnd yet, they are the best of a bad bunch. Top of the table for 2018/2019 is the UK at 72.6%, followed by the Netherlands with 64%. Unhappy anniversaryįast forward a decade and the East-West divide remains. There was a clear East-West divide: most EU members in the east had very low flu vaccination rates but boasted infant immunisation rates that were often the envy of their western neighbours. However, some countries were working from a very low base, with flu vaccination rates in single digits – hence the compromise agreement not to aim for universal vaccination in risk groups. And the agreement reached at the 2009 European Council of health ministers ignored other key groups such as pregnant women and people with chronic conditions. It would still leave 25% of older people unvaccinated. After all, reaching just three quarters of a key target group is still a long way short of protecting all at-risk citizens.
Strict EU health targets are rare because health is a matter for national governments rather than a European responsibility.Ĥ4% of those aged 65 and over in the EU vaccinated against influenza The flu vaccination targets are considered to be ‘soft law’ rather than ‘hard law’, meaning they are not legally binding.
However, there are no political consequences: while there are penalties for breaching EU rules on carbon emissions, budget deficits or employment regulations, there is no sanction for missing vaccination targets. No EU Member State has reached its 75% target and the rate across the EU is 44.3%.
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