Major interpellation - Coordinated efforts at EU level to increase vaccination coverage
15.9.2017
Major interpellation for written answer with debate O-000074/2017
to the Commission
Rule 130b
Piernicola Pedicini, Laura Agea, Rosa D'Amato, Tiziana Beghin, Marco Valli, Marco Zullo, Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Ignazio Corrao, Laura Ferrara, Eleonora Evi, Isabella Adinolfi, Joëlle Bergeron, on behalf of the EFDD Group
Member States retain sovereignty over their vaccination calendar for their citizens. Italy has recently introduced mandatory vaccination for newborn children in the case of six vaccines additional to the four that were already obligatory, resulting in a total of ten compulsory vaccines.
The legitimate goal of achieving the highest possible immunisation rates, however, can be attained through less stringent policies, and most Member States prefer the adoption of ‘recommendation policies’ or else a mix of obligation/recommendation policies.
A 2016 study shows that countries where a vaccination was mandatory did not in general achieve better coverage than comparable countries where there was no legal obligation in force[1].
A longstanding member of the Advisory Forum of the European Centre for Disease Control has said that similar results to those of mandatory vaccination policies are likely to be achieved by investing resources in better organisation and communication programmes[2].
– Can the fact that the obligation to carry out a total of ten vaccinations for children aged 0-3 is without precedent up to this new legislation be considered a reason to invoke the precautionary principle?
– Can the Commission gather evidence on the effectiveness gap between mandatory and non-mandatory vaccination policies with regard to immunisation rates?
– How can the EU coordinate actions to improve the effectiveness of vaccination policies and increase immunisation rates?