WHO recommendations for seasonal influenza vaccination presented at ESWI Flu Summit

Flu experts and other stakeholders gathered on 2 May 2013 in Brussels, Belgium, for the third Flu Summit organized by the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI). The aim of the one-day meeting was to provide a platform to discuss influenza prevention strategies and review new developments in the field.  The Summit kicked off with a viewing of the video “Influenza: aiming at a moving target”.

Seasonal influenza vaccination

At the Summit, the WHO recommendations on target groups for seasonal influenza vaccination that were revised in 2012 were presented, along with the work that WHO/Europe conducts with Member States to support their implementation.

Other presenters highlighted the importance of vaccinating elderly to improve quality of life and reduce severe illness and deaths. Vaccine safety, new approaches to antiviral drugs as well as development of new seasonal influenza vaccination types and modes of administration were also addressed during the Summit.

Pandemic preparedness

The preliminary results of the FluQuest survey on pandemic preparedness in 11 countries before, during and after the 2009 pandemic were also presented at the meeting. (Upon publication of the survey results, a link will be provided on the WHO/Europe web site.)

One of the findings from the FluQuest survey was that some European countries had not yet revised their pandemic plans according to lessons learnt during the 2009 pandemic. The WHO/Europe evaluation from 2010 on how preparedness activities aided the response to the pandemic as well as pandemic preparedness workshops held in the autumn of 2011 confirmed that European countries learnt valuable lessons from the 2009 pandemic. WHO/Europe would like to re-emphasize the importance of revising pandemic plans and thereby continuing to improve capacities to detect and respond to pandemic-prone diseases.