Answer given by Mr Andriukaitis on behalf of the European Commission
21.3.2019
1. While EU Member States are responsible for vaccination policies, the Commission supports their cooperation on such policies. Under the Council Recommendation on strengthening cooperation against vaccine-preventable diseases[1], the Commission will examine the feasibility of establishing guidelines for a core EU vaccination schedule and of creating a common EU vaccination card.
2. Under the Council Recommendation, the Commission will, within its remit and together with Member States, strengthen the application of EU rules on the protection of workers[2]. The Commission is also convening a Coalition for Vaccination of European associations of healthcare workers and students associations.
3. Vaccines can be authorised only after a well-defined process. Requirements for vaccines can be found in the European Medicine Agency’s scientific guidelines[3]. The Commission is funding independent research on vaccines and has spent a total of EUR 590 million of Horizon 2020 funding. To boost transparency, the Commission aims to create a multi-stakeholder platform for EU post-marketing surveillance studies[4].
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/vaccination/docs/14152_2018_en.pdf
- [2] Directive 2000/54/EC lays down minimum requirements to ensure workers' protection, e.g. to offer vaccines. Council Directive 2010/32/EU provides that workers should be offered vaccines if there is a risk to their safety and health for which effective vaccines exist.
- [3] https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/research-development/scientific-guidelines/multidisciplinary/multidisciplinary-vaccines
- [4] https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/vaccination/docs/com2018_2452_en.pdf