News from the EAP Vaccination Strategic Advisory Group
Together, two major new studies reinforce a sobering truth: achieving high vaccine coverage is no longer just a global development issue — it is now central to preventing the resurgence of fatal childhood diseases in every setting, including high-income countries.
The EAP Vaccination Strategic Advisory Group urges all members to:
Strengthen vaccine advocacy with families and local communities
Monitor early signs of vaccine-preventable disease resurgence
Support policies that improve equitable vaccine access across Europe
As measles cases surge globally and routine vaccination programmes continue to recover from pandemic-era disruptions, two new landmark studies provide a critical update for paediatric professionals and policymakers.
This extensive analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, published in The Lancet, maps global progress in routine childhood vaccine coverage from 1980 to 2023 — and offers forecasts to 2030.
While overall vaccine coverage has improved over the past four decades, the report shows that gains have plateaued or reversed in many regions, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic triggered widespread disruptions, leading to millions of missed doses, with the slow pace of recovery threatening to derail international targets. Vaccine confidence has also declined sharply in some regions, driven by misinformation and political instability.
Key findings include:
Global DTP3 and MCV1 coverage dropped markedly in 2020–2021, with only partial recovery by 2023.
Socioeconomic inequities continue to drive large gaps in vaccine access and uptake.
Forecasts suggest that without urgent intervention, many countries will fall short of 2030 immunisation goals.
In a comprehensive review published in The New England Journal of Medicine, authors examine the resurgence of measles and its devastating clinical and epidemiological implications.
Over 395,000 confirmed measles cases were reported globally in 2024, and more than 16,000 in just the first two months of 2025. The European region is experiencing its worst outbreak in over 25 years. The review outlines clinical manifestations, post-infectious immune amnesia, and vaccine recommendations, while also addressing controversial issues such as:
Early infant vaccination to counter waning maternal antibodies.
Vitamin A supplementation for measles complications, especially in low-resource settings.
Microneedle vaccine patches and other innovations to improve access.
Alarmingly, the authors highlight growing immunity gaps among both infants and adults — and warn that vaccine hesitancy and underfunding of global immunisation programmes are placing millions at unnecessary risk.
The resurgence of measles and the stall in global vaccine uptake require a renewed commitment across clinical, academic, and policy arenas. From adapting vaccine schedules to addressing misinformation and innovating delivery methods, paediatricians have a central role to play.
Let’s turn this knowledge into action — for the health of every child in Europe and beyond.
New ways to test high-risk medical devices.
Manufacturers of medical devices need to test their products before being allowed to market them. Specifically, they require clinical data showing their medical device is safe and efficient. In this context, the EU-funded CORE-MD project will translate expert scientific and clinical evidence on study designs for evaluating high-risk medical devices into advice for EU regulators. The project will propose how new trial designs can contribute and suggest ways to aggregate real-world data from medical device registries.
It will also conduct multidisciplinary workshops to propose a hierarchy of levels of evidence from clinical investigations, as well as educational and training objectives for all stakeholders, to build expertise in regulatory science in Europe. CORE–MD will translate expert scientific and clinical evidence on study designs for evaluating high-risk medical devices into advice for EU regulators, to achieve an appropriate balance between innovation, safety, and effectiveness. A unique collaboration between medical associations, regulatory agencies, notified bodies, academic institutions, patients’ groups, and health technology assessment agencies, will systematically review methodologies for the clinical investigation of high-risk medical devices, recommend how new trial designs can contribute, and advise on methods for aggregating real-world data from medical device registries with experience from clinical practice The consortium is led by the European Society of Cardiology and the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, and involves all 33 specialist medical associations that are members of the Biomedical Alliance in Europe.
