On 20 April 2020, the Coalition for Vaccination, consisting of European associations of healthcare professionals, kicked off an advocacy campaign to promote the uptake of vaccines among health professionals and patients.

The campaign is launched across Europe simultaneously with the European Immunization Week of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe.  It  aims  to  remind  that  immunisation through vaccination is the best protection there is against serious, even deadly, preventable diseases. WHO has recently warned that as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, more than 100 million children in the world may fail to receive measles vaccines. Therefore, it is vital that countries continue their routine immunisation services.

Healthcare professionals’ role is to encourage their patients to be vaccinated and to make sure that they themselves are vaccinated. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals are in an ideal position to provide understandable and factual information to the public and to reassure that vaccines are safe and effective.

The Coalition for Vaccination was convened by the European Commission in 2019 to deliver accurate information to the public, combating myths and exchanging best practices. It is co-led by the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) and the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU). The Coalition has nearly 20 member organisations, including healthcare professionals’ student associations.

Videos from doctors: https://bit.ly/3erFALH Videos from nurses : https://bit.ly/2XFyf5n Videos from pharmacists: https://bit.ly/3bgD1tT