Session (CTI)

Vaccinations are considered efficient interventions in healthcare systems, both in terms of health and economy. This is also true for Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries with highly limited resources compared to Western European countries. The vaccination landscape in CEE countries is complex shaped by vaccine hesitancy, misinformation about the value of vaccination, structural and access barriers and suboptimal vaccination coverage. Romania and Poland have relatively low vaccination rates in the EU (measles, polio, flu), which poses a significant public health risk. Lengthy approval processes and insufficient value recognition for new vaccines can delay access in Poland & Hungary, economic constraints & limited healthcare budget impact vaccine availability and distribution in Bulgaria and Serbia. Some CEE countries and most of Balkan countries have a huge problem with vaccination coverage because of the misinformation about the safety of the vaccine and their efficacy. Therefore, efforts are needed to build public trust in vaccines and combat misinformation to showing the full value of vaccines in all CEE countries. This panel will explore and discuss above challenges and opportunities in vaccination landscape across CEE countries and how to deal with this and improve access to vaccines in the region with special focus on i) the roles of different national bodies in making decisions on vaccinations, ii) the timeliness of assessments and decisions, ii) the methodologies used by national immunization advisory groups and HTA bodies to assess vaccines, iv) the transparency of recommendations and decision-making processes and v) payment models for vaccines. The EU joint clinical assessment will become mandatory for vaccines in 2030. Until then it would be critical to explore specific components of the value assessment for vaccines ( e.g. herd immunity, reduced absenteeism from work, long-term perspective of cost-benefit analysis etc.), which have limited transferability across CEE countries.