Europe gears up for autumn vaccination season as Covid cases rise

The vaccination campaign has arrived again and Covid cases have risen by 29%, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) — these are the two elements that motivated the Covid Transition Initiative (CTI)“, an organisation of European experts, will publish a statement calling on national governments and EU authorities to take the necessary measures to support optimal vaccination coverage.

The measures they demand boil down to two points: first, national organizations issue recommendations and instructionsclear recommendations for Covid-19 vaccination ahead of the autumn vaccination campaign; and secondly, that Regulators are working with vaccine suppliers to ensure timely availability of appropriate vaccines for the autumn campaign, which begins in September.

The COVID-19 Transition Roadmap sets out 13 recommendations to help decision-makers increase COVID-19 vaccination rates in Europe. During the 2023/24 vaccination season, rates fell to an average of 12% for people aged 60 and over.

There has been a marked increase in COVID-19 cases in Europe and the UK in recent weeks. According to the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC), the average positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 in EU sentinel primary care systems has increased to 11%.

The combined test positivity rate reached 29%, mainly due to three countries reporting more than 20% positive test results (ECDC). For example, between 4 and 10 July, the number of new positive cases in Italy increased by 42% (Italian Ministry of Health). In France, the public health agency recorded an increase in all epidemic monitoring indicators in June (Public Health France). Indicators remained stable in July, but with a slight increase in hospitalizations after visits with suspected Covid-19 between 10 and 17 July (Public Health France).

CTI insists on appeal to regulators “Work in partnership with vaccine suppliers to ensure all relevant vaccine products are available in time for campaigns to begin in September.“.

“In line with the European Medicines Agency’s recommendations for updating vaccines for the JN.1 family strain, timely review of JN.1 candidate applications is essential to ensure that all available vaccine technologies are approved and available in September,” they say.