Ensuring equal access to vaccines for all citizens in Europe
Access to vaccines is examined across three dimensions – availability, service accessibility and equity. Access remains uneven across Europe for geographic, socioeconomic and structural reasons.
Why this matters
Equal access requires action at both European and national level: timely decisions on availability, services that meet people where they are, and strategies that reach disadvantaged groups. A life-course approach that reaches adults and at-risk groups, not only children, is central.
Key issues
- Disparities in immunisation coverage across, and within, EU member states
- Barriers to access: cost, geography, health literacy and structural inequity
- The life-course immunisation gap – adults and at-risk groups underserved relative to children
- The role of primary care, community pharmacies, schools and workplaces
What the Consensus Report recommends
Policy-grade recommendations for action at European and national level.
Enhance the timeliness of evidence-based decision-making on immunisation to address inequities in vaccine availability.
Enhance the accessibility of immunisation services – in particular within schools, workplaces and community pharmacies – to support a life-course approach.
Improve immunisation equity and uptake through national strategies that target disadvantaged groups, supported by cross-sectoral collaboration and best-practice sharing.
Who contributes to this pillar
Patient and civil-society members lead on this pillar, including the European Patients Forum, Active Citizenship Network and the Coalition for Life-Course Immunisation, whose engagement is essential to reaching underserved groups.