Data driven life course immunisation: What are we waiting for?

Highlights

Prof. Pierre Van Damme, Director, Vaccinopolis (Moderator)

• Noted that without data, it would not be possible to measure vaccine safety, efficacy, and effectiveness or to show vaccine impact to policymakers, adding that this is important to remain competitive with other regions. He highlighted that right now, Europe is not very competitive with the US, UK, Australia and Canada as they can submit and apply for clinical trials (CTs) quicker. To support Europe’s competitiveness, he stressed the importance of also investing in collaboration between research sites as well as optimising collaborations with regulators and ethics committees.
• Called on Europe to invest in vaccine confidence to survey beliefs and perceptions. This type of survey existed in the EU but unfortunately was discontinued after 2022 – an issue that needs to be revisited at the EU level.

Sibilia Quilici, Executive Director, Vaccines Europe

• Said that viruses have no borders and noted the challenges faced by Europe that will speed up the rise of vaccine preventable infections including economic pressures leading to healthcare budget cuts, geopolitical tensions, the rise of AMR, climate change, and an ageing population as well as a shrinking workforce.
• Emphasised the important role immunisation must play in ensuring the resilience of health systems, societies, and economies. With the level of knowledge available today, there must be action to implement the appropriate solutions.
• Spoke about Vaccine Europe’s call for an EU Immunisation Strategy and particularly sustainability regarding initiatives supporting vaccination in Europe. Vaccines save lives, save money, and contribute to health system resilience and this needs to be sustained.

Prof. Stanley Plotkin, MD, University of Pennsylvania

• Spotlighted the quote: “The impact of vaccination on the health of the world’s peoples is hard to exaggerate. With the exception of safe water, no other modality has had such a major effect on mortality reduction and population growth.”
• Discussed some major scientific problems related to immunisation, including the need to develop vaccines that produce lifelong protection, the need for more protective antigens against complex bacteria, and the need for vaccines that produce a long-lasting mucosal response.

An Cloet, pharma.be Think Tank Vaccines Lead, MSD

• Emphasised that for industry, data is important to ensure there is supply. With the measles outbreak, industry needs to know where the outbreaks are, how big they are, and how to reallocate supply. Industry also needs this data to evaluate effectiveness and safety and then communicate this to stakeholders, adding that to conduct further R&D it is important to see where pathogens are evolving and where to put resources and investments into R&D.
• Noted that adult vaccination brings lots of value to healthcare systems. However, there is no real adult immunisation plan.
• Stressed that the ECDC has a role to play regarding data collection. It should be the role of the ECDC to accompany Member States in the setup of data infrastructure, making sure that a legal framework is possible and that data is captured at national level.
• To move forward towards more effective and efficient data-driven decisions, collaboration and having a common vision will be important.

Prof. Marc Arbyn, Senior Expert, Coordinator of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Belgium Cancer Centre of Sciensano

• Discussed the PERCH project as part of the EU4Health program. Its main objective is to increase overall HPV vaccination coverage for all 18 MS involved by increasing awareness, disseminating knowledge, sharing experiences, training health professionals, launching campaigns, and adjusting to the needs of MS. An additional objective is to improve the quality of data collection to monitor the coverage and impact of HPV vaccination.

Dr. Tyra Grove Krause, Executive Vice President, Epidemiological Infectious Disease Preparedness, Statens Serum Institut, Denmark

• Discussed how in Denmark, there is an electronic immunisation system and, while there are no mandatory vaccines in Denmark, it is mandatory for all health workers to report all given vaccines in this register – which all citizens and health workers have access to.
• Noted that Denmark was able to shortcut informed consent with parents for vaccination because of the strong legal framework. For GDPR, citizens can log on to the registration system and see a log of who has had access to their data. This has increased public trust in vaccination programs.

Gözde Susuzlu Briggs, Senior Programme Manager, European Patients Forum

• Regarding the involvement of patient associations in projects related to data collection, noted that education on the importance of this topic is still a major issue and financially very hard to bring on board due to the human resources needed.
• Emphasised that real-world evidence is key for decision making. Noted that there is a need for more data than there is available from CTs and registries. This is the same for patients, as they would like to be able to engage in more evidence-based advocacy. Stressed that the basis of trust is being able to communicate with evidence-based points.

Veronika Ryblanska, Ministry of Health, Slovak Republic

• Regarding Slovakia’s e-health system and health data portal, noted that it does not work as well as planned due to a lack of ownership and mismanagement.
• Highlighted research done on HPV vaccination, looking at how many boys and girls received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine. In 2022, when the nonavalent HPV vaccine was fully reimbursed, vaccination rates went up.