The pandemic has highlighted the value of vaccination

The COVID-19 pandemic "undoubtedly highlighted the value of vaccination in combination with other public health measures, as a powerful shield of protection for citizens to return to normalcy," said Minister of Health Popi Kanari addressing a press conference on the occasion of the European Immunization Week.

A Ministry of Health press release said this year's campaign for the European Immunisation Week "focuses on improving vaccination coverage and particularly the need for children to catch up on any missed doses due to the pandemic."

In her remarks, Minister Kanari added that "the re-establishment of the National Vaccination Committee in 2018 contributed to the updating of the National Vaccination Programme of Cyprus, which includes the updated Vaccination Schedule for Children and Adolescents, the new Vaccination Schedule for Adults, and the new Vaccination Schedule for Special Groups, under the general health system GESY.

Kanari said that "for the Ministry of Health to succeed in implementing vaccination as a key pillar of health policy, the correct implementation of the National Vaccination Programme, as well as timely and equal access to it for the population, should be a common goal among all involved parties."

Regarding the European Immunization Week, the Minister of Health stressed the importance of vaccines and how they protect people of all ages from many diseases, giving us the opportunity for a quality life.

She added that "the goal is to educate the public about why vaccines are necessary for the health of millions of people worldwide, while this year's theme 'The Big Catch-Up' is an opportunity to raise awareness about the urgent and critical need for vaccinating children, adolescents, and adults who missed doses due to the pandemic, which increases the risk of being infected by various preventable diseases."

Presenting statistical data on vaccinations at national and European level, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and President of the National Vaccination Committee, Christina Yiannaki, said that in 2022, with the MMR, Pneumococcal and Varicella vaccines, vaccinations reached 15,304, while vaccinations for pneumococcus 16,000, for Hepatitis A 14,896, and for Meningitis 14,000.

She added that "during the 2019-2020 school year, the HPV vaccine was only administered to girls by the Health Visitors Service of the Ministry of Health, while in 2021, free administration also started for boys, with the total number of vaccinations during this period reaching 14,008."

Yiannaki added that "since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 1.2 million children in the European Region have missed vaccinations to protect them against measles, mumps, and rubella."