Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on a joint European approach to vaccination.

As COVID-19 has proved once again, diseases do not recognise borders.

So with labs around the world and the race to find a vaccine, it is time to ask ourselves the question, what can the EU do to help? Is there

European added value concerning vaccination? Stay with us. Despite growing resistance

to them, vaccines have revolutionized modern medicine and greatly reduced the spread of

some deadly diseases such as measles or polio.

Vaccination programs have also led to the complete eradication of smallpox, which is estimated

to have killed up to 300 million people in the 20th century.

And let's not forget that each year, seasonal flu vaccination prevents around 2 million people in Europe from contracting

the flu. But despite all these successes, the European Parliament, the Commission and other experts

have highlighted a decline in public confidence in vaccination and insufficient vaccination coverage

rates in some parts of the EU.

So what can EU do about this?

Well, although public health and thereby vaccination is the responsibility of member states, the cross-border threats posed by low vaccination levels, coupled with the recent outbreaks

of vaccine-preventable diseases and now the spread of COVID-19 have brought this issue to the

forefront of the EU health policy agenda. Surveillance, coordination, networking, joint procurement

and funding have already helped create economies of scale, unlock the potential for innovation

and address cross-border health threats, but there's much more

we can do together. Stay with us.

Most EU countries already have effective immunization programs in place. Nevertheless, immunization

levels have recently begun to decline, mainly due to vaccine hesitancy, but also as a result of insufficient funding.

Another challenge is the existence of non-pathogens that cause diseases for which no vaccine yet exists,

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