No 12/17 - 2025

European Immunization Week

This week, WHO is holding both European Immunization Week and World Immunization Week. The European Immunization Week is an annually recurring event where WHO and thereby the member countries focus on the successes and challenges related to childhood vaccination programs in regard to achieving control over the infectious diseases that we vaccinate against.

This year, the theme is “Vaccinating everyone is humanly possible.” WHO emphasizes that outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases can occur anywhere there is an accumulation of un- or under-vaccinated people and that especially small children and everyone with chronic illnesses can be at particular risk.

As examples of the effects of vaccination programs on the world’s population, WHO mentions that 20 million people are still able to walk because they have avoided polio, and thereby severe paralysis, through vaccination over the past 70 years. Furthermore, that vaccination has globally saved 154 million human lives in the past 50 years. That equals six lives per minute. Every day, every year, for 50 years.

But there are still challenges in many places. In 2024, for example, there were more than 127,000 cases of measles in the European region—and 38 registered deaths. Due to the extremely high contagiousness of measles, it is necessary to vaccinate 95% of everyone with two measles-containing vaccines to achieve control over the disease. And there are still many countries—including in Western Europe—that have not reached this, and where measles outbreaks therefore continue to occur.

New display of participation in the childhood vaccination program

On the occasion of European Immunization Week 2025, the Statens Serum Institut is today launching a new website that shows the participation in the Danish childhood vaccination program in 2024—and how Denmark is performing in relation to WHO’s goals for vaccine-preventable diseases.

The new page replaces the previous annual report, which since 2014 has been published in collaboration with the Danish Health Authority and the Danish Medicines Agency. With the new display, the Statens Serum Institut aims to make communication more accessible for both healthcare professionals and residents.

High and stable participation—but still room for improvement

Denmark continues to have high and stable uptake of the vaccines included in the childhood vaccination program. For several vaccines, we meet WHO’s goals, but there is still room for improvement. Among the positive trends is an increase in uptake of HPV vaccination—both among girls and boys.

At the same time, there are aspects that underline the need for continued focus on maintaining high participation. In 2024, as mentioned above, a marked increase in measles cases was registered globally and in Europe. Also in Denmark, the number of confirmed cases was the highest in several years. The detection of vaccine-derived poliovirus in wastewater in several European countries also highlights the importance of high uptake of vaccines in the child’s first year of life as well as in the 5-year revaccination against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, and polio.

Efforts that work

On the new website, in addition to getting an overview of vaccine uptake in 2024, you can read about some of the efforts that contribute to the high uptake. You can, among other things, read about how professional guidance, education, and collaboration across the Nordic countries help to strengthen the program in practice, as well as how a new study shows that active reminders to parents have a clear positive effect on uptake.

In addition, we share the results of a user survey that has provided valuable insight into how vaccine information can be made more understandable and accessible for both healthcare personnel and citizens—something we will continue to work on in 2025.

(J. Grau, L. Hallundbæk, I.R. Moustsen-Helms, B. Søborg, P.H. Andersen, Infection Epidemiology and Prevention)