Following the European Medicines Agency recommendation for authorisation of the vaccine Comirnaty, developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) released the technical report titled 'COVID-19 vaccination and prioritisation strategies in the EU/EEA'
On the release of the report, ECDC Director Andrea Ammon said: "The choice of an optimal COVID-19 vaccination strategy depends on the objective, e.g. reducing mortality, saving life years, or reducing pressure on the healthcare system, and the characteristics of the vaccine, in particular its efficacy against infection and therefore onward transmission. The prioritisation of groups at the highest risk of severe disease and death could provide substantial reductions in mortality and relieve pressure on healthcare systems, even if viral transmission is ongoing within the population. Importantly, non-pharmaceutical interventions should continue to be applied."
Now that the first vaccine has been authorised for use, ECDC has provided a framework for Member States to assist in prioritisation strategies for optimal health outcomes. This document builds on a previously published ECDC report, 'Key aspects regarding the introduction and prioritisation of COVID-19 vaccination in the EU/EEA and the UK'.
By using mathematical modelling, ECDC provides EU/EEA countries with information on relative effectiveness and efficiency of alternative COVID-19 vaccination strategies, according to different target groups and based on scenarios of hypothetical vaccine characteristics.
The prioritisation of certain population groups may help to achieve the objective of the vaccination strategy, and the objective of the analysis is to compare the relative effectiveness and efficiency of different vaccine prioritisation strategies by target group.
This analysis is not intended to make a forecast of how COVID-19 epidemiology will evolve in the EU/EEA once the vaccine is widely available, as this will depend on vaccine characteristics, future policy on non-pharmaceutical interventions and other behavioural changes.
ECDC Director Andrea Ammon added: "The vaccination of healthcare workers is beneficial since it improves the resilience of the healthcare system."
By outlining four strategies, the most important areas for consideration in the rollout of the vaccine amongst the population of the EU/EAA are highlighted, and the report shows how the objective of a vaccination strategy should be informed by the characteristics of the vaccines available.
The four strategies are:
Strategy 1a: Vaccination of people at risk of severe outcomes due to older age
Strategy 1b: Vaccination of people at risk of severe outcomes due to preconditions
Strategy 2: Vaccination of healthcare workers
Strategy 3: Vaccination of adults 18-59 years of age
Strategy 4: Universal vaccination (everyone aged above 18 years)
In the initial phases of the vaccine deployment, it is expected that demand will exceed supply. It will be important to manage expectations through appropriate communication regarding the choices of vaccine strategies. It will also be important to consider groups or settings that may have a disproportionate risk of exposure.
Given the many unknowns in relation to COVID-19 vaccines' characteristics, deployment, supply, and uptake, non-pharmaceutical interventions should continue to be applied, as recommended by public health authorities, following the introduction of COVID-19 vaccination.
Vaccination strategies will need to be adaptable over time to unfolding events taking into account the emerging evidence. ECDC will continue to monitor factors like COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, confidence, uptake, supply, deployment, and future emerging variants that could have an impact on the response to COVID-19 vaccines.
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Read the full report: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/covid-19-vaccination-and-prioritisation-strategies-eueea