COVID-19 vaccine uptake monitoring

Deployment of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination began in the WHO European Region in early December 2020. Rollout expanded quickly in the first quarter of 2021, and by the end of April encompassed all 54 countries and territories in the Region.

WHO/Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) launched joint monitoring of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the Region in January 2020. This is intended to guide development and, if needed, revision of national vaccination strategies by monitoring:

• access to COVID-19 vaccination within and between countries;
• efficiency of vaccination campaigns in administering vaccines to priority target population groups; and
• trends and possible shortcomings in uptake of first dose and complete vaccination series.

WHO/Europe and ECDC collect data on COVID-19 vaccine distribution and uptake via the European Surveillance System (TESSy) in all countries of the Region. Additionally, WHO collects monthly data on COVID-19 vaccination programmatic indicators, including vaccination strategies and vaccine procurement.

The data are published in the interactive and dynamic dashboards of the WHO/Europe COVID-19 Vaccine Programme Monitor and the ECDC Vaccine Tracker (European Union/European Economic Area countries only), and are included in the joint Weekly COVID-19 Surveillance Bulletin and joint COVID-19 Surveillance Explorer.

Characteristics of the vaccination uptake data in the WHO/Europe monitoring dashboard

• Displayed data are officially reported by countries based on standard reporting protocol and have a comparable reporting timeframe.
• Submitted data are checked for quality issues.
• Data from all Member States and territories are monitored not only for the overall population but also for priority population groups, including:
  • health-care workers
  • people 60 years and older
  • residents in long-term care facilities.
• Vaccination uptake rates are presented:
  • in the general population and by age group in each of the countries and territories;
  • by first dose and by complete vaccination series as per the vaccine product-specific schedule;
  • by administration of different vaccines and products in each country; and
  • by country income level to monitor equity in access to vaccines.
• Data are updated once a week, on Wednesday evenings, to display data as of the previous week (defined as Monday to Sunday). For European Union/European Economic Area countries, data may be updated more frequently, depending on availability (the date of latest update is indicated in the dashboards).
• Not all countries have started to report regularly to WHO. Vaccination uptake data (mostly the overall number of doses administered) for these countries are extracted from publicly available sources or data submitted through the WHO monthly reporting system (for those not submitting weekly data).