EU Health Commissioner Andriukaitis: "Italy is an example to follow for vaccines"

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The measles epidemic in Europe continues to worsen. Which countries are behind, and what is the EU doing to tackle the problem?

"This year four EU countries have lost measles elimination status. It is a worrying situation, because we see the anti-vax positions taking hold in all 28 EU member states. The situation in countries as diverse as Romania, Germany, Great Britain and Italy reminds us that we must be very active, and try to explain to our societies what the concrete consequences of the anti-vax positions are: today we have 19 thousand cases of measles within the EU. It is very important for us to raise awareness among European citizens, and we ask all the actors involved, including the media and social media, to provide scientific information to the population. The only way to defeat anti-vax is to make people understand what vaccines are: inexpensive and effective tools that save lives. This is why all EU member states should do their best. The Schengen area is a common area, and diseases can easily travel from one country to another, since we no longer have borders ”.READ – The WHO: measles alarm in Europe, 90 thousand cases since the beginning of 2019

In Italy we have decided to make vaccinations compulsory to enter schools. And the results are beginning to be seen, with an increase in coverage in pediatric cohorts. Do you think this is a useful strategy to respond to the fear of vaccines?
"The Italian one is a good example, which should also be followed by other countries. I think it's strange to find ourselves still having to argue in terms of alternatives. It is not a question of voluntary or compulsory vaccinations, but of how to achieve a high level of vaccination coverage for adults and children. And where you can't do it with a voluntary vaccination plan, the only possibility is to make them mandatory. It should not be a controversial topic. Faced with good results in countries such as Italy, this approach should be recognized by all as a useful practice, and also adopted in other member states. Furthermore, the anti-vax positions do not depend on the vaccination requirement. It is found in fact in a country like Holland, where vaccinations are on a voluntary basis, as in Romania, where they are mandatory. This means that the "no to vaccines" has very different roots, which we must learn to understand to organize information campaigns that respond to people's concerns, and help them make decisions based on scientific data, having a clear idea of ​​what vaccination really is ".

READ – Antibiotic resistance, Italy still black for infection

Two important events in the past few days: the European day and the world antibiotic week. Two initiatives that are born to address the antibiotic resistance, one of the great public health issues of these and the coming years. What are we doing in the EU to address in this field? Is there the right attention for the problem?
"In the European Union we have about 33,000 deaths each year caused by antibiotic-resistant infections. It is a health emergency in Europe and the world, and must be taken very seriously. In 2017 the European Commission adopted the action plan One Health, which aims to reduce the use of antibiotics in agriculture and human health. And at the same time it aims to monitor the environment, in urban areas, near large farms and major hospitals, because even environmental contamination by antimicrobial substances is one of the factors that leads to the spread of superbugs. We have introduced new regulations, which limit the use of antibiotics in the human and veterinary field, and a very rigorous surveillance system to closely monitor the situation. Every six months the European health institutions, Ecdc, Ema and Efsa, must provide us with a report that photographs the situation in all 28 EU member states. We therefore have the network available One Health, made up of experts from all the European nations who closely follow the initiatives taken by the EU states to tackle the problem, and evaluate them in light of the objectives decided at European level. We have also proposed many financial incentives for research and development of new therapies and diagnostic devices. We think it is an ambitious and promising action plan, and we hope that the European example will soon be followed also in many other regions of the planet ".

However, this year's data tell us that cases of resistant infections in Europe have remained unchanged since 2018. When can we expect to see the results of initiatives taken by the Commission?
"Looking at the data well you can see a big reduction in the use of antibiotics in the last three or four years. And this is already an important result. Speaking of concrete situations, of outbreaks of resistant bacteria within the EU borders, we are constantly at work using data from the ECDC and EFSA and Ema, and we are ready to react immediately when something happens using the network One Health. That there are new cases is inevitable, but I can say that the trend of recent years is positive ".

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