OSLO, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Only four countries in the World Health Organization European region have met a two-decade-old global target for influenza vaccination among older adults in the 2022-2023 season, the Copenhagen-based European branch of the UN Health agency (WHO Europe) said Friday.
The agency published a 15-year analysis entitled "The Lancet Regional Health - Europe" to mark European Immunization Week 2026 after tracking influenza vaccination programs across the WHO European region over 15 seasons from 2008-2009 to 2022-2023.
According to its findings, Belarus, Denmark, Ireland and Britain are the only four among 54 countries and areas in the region to reach the target of vaccinating 75 percent of older adults against influenza - a target set by the World Health Assembly in 2003.
WHO Europe acknowledged progress made in the region, saying that the number of vaccine doses distributed has doubled since 2008-2009. By the 2021-2022 season, every member state had established a national influenza vaccination program, making it the first of WHO's six global regions to do so.
However, the analysis showed wide inequalities in vaccine access and uptake. In the 2022-2023 season, high-income countries in the region distributed an average of 139.9 doses per 1,000 people, compared with 14.6 doses per 1,000 people in lower-middle-income countries.
Vaccination coverage among seniors stood at 55 percent in high-income countries but only 5 percent in lower-middle-income countries, according to WHO Europe. Older adults account for 70 percent of all influenza-related deaths globally.
Seasonal influenza causes up to 5 million severe cases and kills up to 650,000 people worldwide each year, the agency said.
"These numbers tell a clear story about who we are protecting and who we are leaving behind, and sadly, it's a tale of inequality," said Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe.
"A tenfold gap in dose availability within a single region should concern every health minister in the European Region," he said, adding that making vaccines free, confronting misinformation and building trust in communities could help improve uptake.
There were also "promising signs," Kluge said, noting that influenza vaccination among older adults in the region rose during the first COVID-19 winter in 2020-2021 and appears to have been sustained in subsequent seasons.
