ECDC: Awareness of vaccination benefits still lacking

Zsuzsanna Jakab, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said improvements still need to be made in helping the public become more aware of the benefits of vaccination.

Speaking at the International Meeting on the Value of Vaccination, held this week in Prague, Jakab said negative perceptions regarding vaccines and reduced concerns about the threat of diseases have been a detriment to getting more people vaccinated.

“As people think some infectious diseases are no longer a threat, they are more likely to question the value and safety of vaccination,” Jakab said.

Jakab said data from the European Surveillance Network for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases indicate that there were 5,684 reported cases of measles in Europe in 2008; more than 500 cases of measles have been reported so far in 2009. The high rate of measles correlates with low vaccination coverage, she said.

“In the era where measles should have been eliminated through routine childhood vaccination programs, more than 5,600 cases were reported in the European Union in 2008,” Jakab said. “Data in a number of EU member states show that children are being left unvaccinated because their parents are more likely to question the value and safety of vaccination than the threat of the diseases.”

Jakab urged health care professionals to be more proactive in spreading information about the benefits of vaccination, stressing that vaccines are one of the most important and effective tools for the prevention of infectious diseases.