Today the Health Ministers of the EU adopted a Council Recommendation on strengthened cooperation against vaccine preventable diseases. The Recommendation focuses on three main pillars: tackling vaccine hesitancy and improving vaccination coverage, sustainable vaccination policies in the EU and EU coordination and contribution to global health. It insists on targeted outreach towards vulnerable groups, calls to strengthen vaccination training in medical curricula and exploits the synergies with eHealth and digital technologies to establish electronic vaccination records for all EU citizens.

Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: "I unequivocally welcome the adoption of the Recommendation and call on all Member States to implement the actions agreed in it. They can count on my full support and I hope I can count on theirs. I will remain a tireless advocate for life-saving vaccines and work together with all Member States and actors to keep immunisation high on the European and global health agendas. Next year, I will launch a Coalition of Vaccination and with President Juncker will host a Global Vaccination Summit under EU leadership to leverage genuine and strategic efforts in this area. In addition, the Commission will establish a European vaccination information portal to provide online objective, transparent and updated evidence on the benefits and safety of vaccines."