Highlights • We analyse data from the first European IPD enhanced surveillance in the post-PCV7 era. • In 2010 IPD notification rates were highest among children <1 and adults ≥65 years. • The most ...common serotypes were 19A, 1, 7F, 3, 14, 22F, 8, 4, 12F and 19F. • Non-susceptibility to erythromycin was highest at 17.6% followed by penicillin at 8.9%. • In children <5 years PCV7 serotype coverage was 19.2%, PCV10 46.1% and PCV13 73.1%.
Adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs) with qHPV reported to the Slovenian AEFI Registry for the first four school years of the vaccination programme were analysed. We calculated annual ...reporting rates for 11-14 year-old vaccinees with AEFIs, using the number of qHPV doses distributed within the school-based vaccination programme as the denominator. Between September 2009 and August 2013, 211 AEFIs that occurred in 89 vaccinees were reported, a rate of 149.5 vaccinees with AEFI per 100,000 qHPV doses distributed. For five vaccinees, serious AEFIs (8.4 per 100,000 doses distributed) were reported. The highest reporting rates were for fatigue, headache, and fever (≥ 38.0⁰) (53.8, 40.3, and 35.3 per 100,000 qHPV doses distributed, respectively). As no AEFI resulted in permanent sequelae and they all were categorised as serious only due to the criterion of a minimum of one day of hospitalisation, this provides reassurance for the safety of our school-based HPV vaccination programme. Further AEFI surveillance is warranted to provide data for HPV vaccination programme monitoring and evaluation of its safety.
With an annual incidence between 8 and 15 per 100,000 population in the period from 2009 to 2013, Slovenia has one of the highest notified incidences of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Europe. TBE ...vaccination coverage remains at about 7.3%. To inform vaccination policy, we used surveillance data from 2009 to 2013 to calculate the overall and age- and sex-specific mean annual TBE incidence. We estimated disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) with 95% uncertainty intervals (UI), using the Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe approach from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The mean annual incidence was 11.6 per 100,000 population, peaking in older age groups (50-74 years: 18.5/100,000) while relatively lower among children (5-14 years: 10.2/100,000). We estimated an overall 10.95 DALYs per 100,000 population per year (95% UI: 10.25-11.65). In contrast to the TBE incidence, the disease burden in children aged 5-14 years was higher than in adults aged 50-74 years: 17.31 (95% UI: 14.58-20.08) and 11.58 (95% UI: 10.25-12.91) DALYs per 100,000 stratum-specific population, respectively. In a limited resource setting where prioritisation of TBE vaccination strategies is required, vaccination programmes targeting children may have a higher impact on disease burden.
We present a review of the current implementation status of vaccination against human papillomaviruses (HPV) and available data concerning the burden of HPV infection and HPV type-specific ...distribution in 16 central and eastern European countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. At least one current HPV prophylactic vaccine is registered in all central and eastern European countries except Montenegro. Six counties-Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia, and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia-have integrated the HPV vaccination into their national immunization program and currently provide routine vaccination free of charge to the primary target population. Ten countries have not integrated HPV vaccination into the national immunization program. The key reasons for lack of implementation of HPV vaccination into the national immunization program are the high vaccine cost and negative public perception. Vaccination of males is not recommended in any country in the region.
Since 2008, annual surveys of influenza vaccination policies, practices and coverage have been undertaken in 29 European Union (EU)/ European Economic Area (EEA) countries. After 2009, this monitored ...the impact of European Council recommendation to increase vaccination coverage to 75% among risk groups. This paper summarises the results of three seasonal influenza seasons: 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11. In 2008/09, 27/29 countries completed the survey; in 2009/10 and 2010/11, 28/29 completed it. All or almost all countries recommended vaccination of older people (defined as those aged ≥50, ≥55, ≥59, ≥60 or ≥65 years), and people aged ≥6 months with clinical risk and healthcare workers. A total of 23 countries provided vaccination coverage data for older people, but only 7 and 10 had data for the clinical risk groups and healthcare workers, respectively. The number of countries recommending vaccination for some or all pregnant women increased from 10 in 2008/09 to 22 in 2010/11. Only three countries could report coverage among pregnant women. Seasonal influenza vaccination coverage during and after the pandemic season in older people and clinical groups remained unchanged in countries with higher coverage. However, small decreases were seen in most countries during this period. The results of the surveys indicate that most EU/EEA countries recommend influenza vaccination for the main target groups; however, only a few countries have achieved the target of 75% coverage among risk groups. Coverage among healthcare workers remained low.
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