Inside EU Health: HPV vaccination; ageing population; UK Covid report on vaccines and therapeutics
ECDC underscores advances in HPV vaccination for European Immunisation Week; Europe’s demographic challenge will likely hit healthcare; UK COVID-19 Report: Vaccines and therapeutics
ECDC highights HPV vaccination for European Immunisation Week
For European Immunisation Week 2026, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) highlights progress in HPV vaccination, but coverage remains uneven across Europe.
Three countries - Iceland, Portugal and Norway - have reached the EU target of 90% coverage among girls by age 15. However, uptake remains significantly lower in some countries, including Romania and Slovakia, highlighting persistent gaps in access and acceptance.
“The elimination of cervical cancer in the EU/EEA is becoming an achievable goal,” said ECDC's Bruno Ciancio.
Evidence shows major declines in HPV infections and cervical cancer, especially when vaccination occurs early.
The ECDC stresses that school-based vaccination programmes are particularly effective in boosting uptake.
Catherine Feore
Europe’s demographic challenge will likely hit healthcare
Eurostat projections indicate that the EU population will decline by 11.7% (53 million people) between 2025 and 2100. The share of people aged 65+ will rise sharply - especially those over 80, increasing from 6% to 16% - while the working-age population shrinks from 58% to 50%.
This demographic shift implies a substantial increase in demand for chronic disease management, long-term care, and geriatric services. WHO already estimated last year that the EU will face a shortage of 4.1 million healthcare workers by 2030; these figures indicate that the situation will put increasing pressure on Europe’s healthcare systems, also in terms of affordability.
UK COVID-19 Report: Vaccines and therapeutics
The UK COVID-19 Inquiry has released its latest report, this one concerns vaccines and therapeutics. While the report states that the rapid discovery and the unprecedented rate of deployment showcased the UK’s health and scientific research systems, saving an estimated 475,000 people in England and Scotland alone, it was not without its problems.
The report highlights the need to better target and communicate with groups who have higher levels of deprivation and in some ethnic minority groups were vaccine uptake was lower. It recommends more efforts to build confidence in the safey of vaccine programmes and more targeted actions for certain groups.
While the vast majority of people who received the vaccine had view side effects, for a small group vaccines led to serious injury or death. The Inquiry found that the government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was not sufficiently supportive and requires urgent reform, increasing the payment and creating a fairer system for determining payment.