Session (CTI)

ISSUE: Vaccination remains one of the most cost-effective public health interventions available, yet coverage rates across Europe fall consistently below WHO targets for influenza, COVID-19, and childhood immunisation. Hesitancy, access barriers, and entrenched delivery models leave substantial at-risk populations, including minority communities, elderly adults, and vulnerable groups, systematically underreached. Innovative delivery strategies exist. Pharmacist-led programmes have demonstrated improved uptake and favourable cost-effectiveness across European settings. Community-based outreach has shown measurable impact where traditional channels fail. Yet these approaches remain inconsistently embedded in national immunisation programmes, and HTA frameworks have been slow to evaluate non-traditional delivery models with the same rigour applied to vaccines. The core issue is whether European health systems have the HTA tools and political will to adopt and scale innovative vaccination strategies, or whether structural inertia leaves proven solutions outside the funded care pathway. OVERVIEW: This panel examines how innovative vaccination delivery strategies can be embedded within European public health systems. Moderator Cornelis Boersma will introduce the issue (5 min), followed by three perspectives: cost-effectiveness of pharmacist-led vaccination (Adina Turcu-Stiolica), national immunisation policy in a non-EU context (Aleksandra Grozdanova), and the patient perspective from current research (Tarik Catic), each presenting for 10 min. HTA professionals, payers, public health academics, and patient advocates will benefit from a moderated debate (15 min) on three unresolved questions: -Should HTA frameworks evaluate vaccination delivery models, not just vaccines, as reimbursable interventions, and what evidence standards apply to pharmacist-led programmes? -What governance mechanisms are needed for non-EU systems to adopt and scale evidence-based vaccination delivery innovations? -How should patient perspectives on vaccination barriers be incorporated into HTA evaluations of innovative delivery strategies? The session concludes with audience Q&A (10 min).