New Coalition Calls for More Effective Adult Immunisation Strategies During European Union's 2012 Year for Active Ageing

An expert group of European public health advocates and professionals has created a dedicated partnership entitled SAATI - Supporting Active Ageing Through Immunisation - to encourage comprehensive adult immunisation policies in order to reduce the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases in Europe. A newly-formed group of key European partners - SAATI (Supporting Active Ageing Through Immunisation) announced their commitment to tackle low public awareness of the risk and burden of vaccine-preventable diseases in older adults.

During the European Union's (EU) 2012 Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, SAATI will engage with policy makers and other stakeholders to examine how vaccination, as a prevention strategy, should be part of an age-based health approach throughout all phases of life. Currently, vaccination policy is patchy and mainly considers the very young, the very old or those in at-risk groups.
"We are taking advantage of the EU's focus on Active Ageing to underline the need to review European policies, practices and communication around adult vaccination," stated Professor Javier Garau, SAATI Chair and former President of ESCMID. "Vaccination is a particularly relevant health strategy for adults since the immune system weakens as we get older, and this increases our risk of contracting serious yet vaccine-preventable diseases, such as flu and pneumococcal disease. In addition, the symptoms and impact of these diseases are often poorly understood by the general public. Unlike with infants, there are no comprehensive or consistent guidelines for adult immunisation, and we believe this is one of the major barriers to reducing preventable and sometimes fatal illnesses."
Across Europe, pneumonia alone is estimated to cost over 10 billion Euros in direct and indirect costs annually.[1] This should be a concern for European policy makers, not only because of Europe's ageing society but equally due to pressures all governments are facing to better manage the costs of healthcare and social welfare.
"Immunisation is not just for children, but is essential across the life course. We need to normalise immunisation as an important part of healthy ageing. Comprehensive adult vaccination strategies would significantly reduce the incidence and burden to individuals, employers and healthcare systems," said Baroness Sally Greengross, Chief Executive of the International Longevity Centre, United Kingdom.
The EU has identified healthy ageing as a societal challenge common to all European countries. As such, it has designated 2012 as the Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. This year will provide the opportunity to further investigate the role of prevention and health management strategies for older adults to enable them to maintain an active role in society.
At an inaugural planning meeting on 27-28 October 2011, SAATI partners met to share their views and insights on what constitutes the main barriers to effective immunisation programmes for adults in Europe. Despite a broad consensus by EU Health Ministers on the value of vaccines, adult immunisation rates remain highly unpredictable and variable. SAATI will be working with a range of other partners to better understand the root causes and propose policy-related solutions for the future.