European healthcare professionals unite for the future of vaccination
On 17 January, nearly 100 experts from across Europe gathered to discuss European and national vaccination policies and healthcare professionals' role in increasing vaccine confidence and uptake.
The Coalition for Vaccination conference brought together healthcare professionals, students, policymakers, civil society, researchers, and the general public.
The Council Conclusions adopted under the Czech presidency of the EU in December, reaffirmed that vaccination is one of the most effective tools in the prevention of infectious diseases, highlighted the importance of communication training for healthcare professionals and reinforced the role of the Coalition.
Conference participants, including representatives from the European Commission, WHO/Europe and the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic, stressed the need for us to work together to close vaccination gaps.
Over the past two years, the EU co-funded IMMUNION project has supported the Coalition by developing education and training resources for healthcare professionals, advocacy materials and campaigns on vaccination, as well as tools for national authorities to help increase vaccine uptake, with a focus on Italy, Greece, Latvia and Romania. All resources are available on the Coalition’s website.
As the IMMUNION project wraps up its final deliverables, the Coalition for Vaccination will continue to advance collaboration between healthcare professionals.
Stefan Schreck (DG SANTE, European Commission) said “Healthcare professionals are trusted sources of information on vaccination for many people. They can also be role models for other health professionals, by getting vaccinated themselves.
“The Coalition for Vaccination was convened by the Commission in 2019 and has today become so mature that it organises its own conferences! Vaccines only work if they end up in people’s arms. We want to raise awareness of the benefits of vaccination, including through the United In Protection campaign, and ultimately increase the confidence in and uptake of vaccines. The Coalition is a key partner for the Commission in terms of ensuring that this actually happens!”
The Coalition for Vaccination is a group of European associations of healthcare professionals and student associations in the field of health and vaccination. We support delivering accurate information to the public, combating myths around vaccines and vaccination, and exchanging best practices on vaccination. We aim to build vaccine trust and thereby help increase vaccine uptake.
IMMUNION (“Improving IMMunisation cooperation in the European UNION”) is an EU co-funded project which strengthens collaboration between healthcare professionals and other stakeholders to communicate evidence-based information about vaccination and increase vaccine confidence and uptake. It works closely with the Coalition for Vaccination.
To learn about the Coalition’s mission and objectives, follow @CoalitionForVax on Twitter.