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Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan: EU advances vaccines preventing cancers

Jun 21, 2024 , ,
Luxembourg/Berlin, 21 June 2024

EU Council adopts recommendation to help combat vaccine-preventable cancers

21 June 2024

The Council has adopted a recommendation that aims to combat vaccine-preventable cancers in the EU by boosting the uptake of vaccinations against Human papillomaviruses (HPV) and Hepatitis B virus (HBV).

A high proportion of cancer cases are preventable. Next to tackling risk factors like alcohol, tobacco and nutrition, vaccination can play a key role in this regard. The recommendation adopted today will help member states boost cancer prevention by increasing the uptake and coverage of key vaccinations, raising awareness among target groups, and combatting mis- and disinformation.

Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Social Affairs

According to a report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), around 40% of cancer cases are the result of environmental factors. These factors include infection from oncoviruses such as HPV and HBV.

Vaccination against HPV and HBV can considerably reduce the risk of a person developing cancers related to these viruses. However, the uptake and monitoring of HPV and HBV vaccines varies across member states, and is affected by issues such as data protection concerns and parental consent, as well as mis- and disinformation related to infections and vaccination.

The recommendation adopted today aims to support member states in increasing vaccination rates and improving monitoring of vaccination coverage. In particular, it encourages member states to:

  • increase efforts towards fully vaccinating at least 90% of girls against HPV at EU level by 2030, in line with the objective set out in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan
  • aim to significantly increase the vaccination of boys against HPV over the same period, so as to reduce the risk of transmission
  • strengthen efforts to achieve the WHO’s 2030 targets for Europe of 95% HBV vaccination coverage for children and newborns and 95% screening rate for pregnant women, and improve monitoring of progress towards these targets

In order to achieve these aims, the recommendation encourages member states to:

  • ensure that vaccination against HPV and HBV is free of charge and easily accessible
  • improve communication about vaccination among parents and young people, and combat mis- and disinformation
  • integrate immunisation against vaccine-preventable cancers into their national cancer plans
Background

On 31 January 2024, the Commission published a proposal for a Council recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers. The recommendation forms part of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, an EU approach to cancer prevention, treatment and care announced in February 2021 as a key pillar of the European Health Union.

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EU steps up the fight against vaccine-preventable cancers under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan

The Commission welcomes the adoption of a set of recommendations on vaccine-preventable cancers by Member States today, a key deliverable underEurope’s Beating Cancer Plan.

Proposed by the Commission in January, the Council Recommendation aims toincrease the uptake of vaccinationagainst viruses that can lead to cancers Human papillomaviruses (HPV) and Hepatitis B virus (HBV). By boosting vaccination uptake, Member States can prevent cancers caused by these viruses, save lives andreduce the pressures on health systems. The Recommendation will also help countries to better monitor vaccination coverage rates, to identify where gaps may need to be addressed.

To eliminate cervical cancer and other cancers caused by HPV, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan has set a target for Member States to reach HPV vaccination rates of 90% for girls and to significantly increase the vaccination of boys by 2030. The Cancer Plan also aims to ensure access and increased uptake of the HBV vaccination, notably to prevent liver cancer.

The Recommendation includes a series of other measures that Member States can take to improve the uptake of vaccination against HPV and HBV:

  • Providingvaccination free of charge or fully reimbursing costs;
  • Establishingelectronic vaccination registries;
  • Ensuringeasy accessto vaccination,in particular for groups at high risk or in disadvantaged situations;
  • Integrating vaccination incancer prevention programmes;
  • Strengtheningcommunication effortsand addressingmis- and disinformation.

For HPV, the Council Recommendation promotes vaccination for both girls and boys. For Hepatitis B virus, it promotes vaccination for all affected population groups.

The Commission will support Member States in the implementation of the Recommendation including with aEUR 20 million joint actionunder the EU4Health 2024 Work Programme.

For More Information

Proposal for a Council recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers

Factsheet “Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan: Making a difference”

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan

Factsheet on vaccination coverage

Data on cancer prevalence

United in Protectioncampaign

Quote(s)

I warmly welcome today’s agreement on the Recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers. This is a key component of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, which is in turn at the heart of our European Health Union. The Commission is ready to support Member States in every way possible, including with significant EU funding, to ensure that this Recommendation will deliver the results we all want to see.

Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life

Every year in the EU, almost 14,000 lives are lost to cervical cancer and over 16,000 new Hepatitis B infections are reported. With safe and effective vaccines, and with our collective target to vaccinate 90% of girls against HPV and increase Hepatitis B vaccinations, we have an historic opportunity to eliminate cervical cancer and other cancers caused by these viruses. I would like to thank the Member States for their endorsement of the Recommendation today, which is another important step forward in our fight against cancer.

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety

Speech by Commissioner Stella Kyriakides at the Health Council – Recommendation on Vaccine Preventable Cancers

Luxembourg, 21 June 2024

“Check against delivery”

Chair, Ministers,

The Council Recommendation on vaccine-preventable cancers that you will be adopting today, was proposed by the Commission in January as one of our key actions on prevention under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

The numbers are quite revealing. Every year in the EU, almost 14,000 lives are lost to cervical cancer, 90% of which are caused by HPV infections, and over 16,000 new Hepatitis B infections are reported.

With safe and effective vaccines, we have a historic opportunity to eliminate cervical cancer and other cancers caused by these viruses.

Vaccination is one of the most effective tools to save lives and prevent disease.

We now need to start the implementation of this Recommendation and make sure that our young population is offered HPV vaccination to protect them from cancers that can occur later in life.

And every person who can benefit from being vaccinated against Hepatitis B should be given this opportunity.

To ensure this, we also need to close the data gaps and monitor vaccination coverages to make sure we make progress.

The Commission will help you implement the new Council Recommendation.

For instance, we will support your work on electronic vaccination registries; on reducing obstacles to uptake; and on using evidence-based awareness-raising campaigns.

And we are launching a joint action funded with 20 million euros from the EU4Health Programme in order to support you in these efforts.

Let us deliver together and make a real difference for cancer prevention.

Thank you.

Source – EU Commission

 

Vaccines Europe welcomes the Council Recommendations on vaccine-preventable cancers

We welcome the Council Recommendations on vaccine-preventable cancers (VPC) adopted today, 21 June, which build on the European Beating Cancer Plan and constitute the next step towards eliminating vaccine-preventable cancers in Europe.

“Elimination of vaccine-preventable cancers in Europe is an ambitious but achievable goal. It’s crucial to build on the progress already made and continue working together on this throughout the new mandate,” said Sibilia Quilici, Executive Director Vaccines Europe.

To achieve this goal, it is critical to have comprehensive and timely data to inform evidence-based decision-making and policies. We fully support the significant emphasis on data in the Recommendations, and providing vaccination data in a digital, structured and reusable format.

Furthermore, as reflected in the Recommendations, it is crucial to build the required infrastructure to equip EU Member States with the tools to work towards eliminating vaccine-preventable cancers. Up-to-date population-based vaccination registries would be one such important tool, which would provide valuable insights into the incidence of infection and cancer, as well as HPV and HBV vaccination coverage rates in all eligible populations.

There were 4 million new cancer cases in Europe in 2020 – but we know that 40% of all cancers are preventable. Immunisation is proven to be a well-established cost-effective tool to reduce the incidence of cancers related to infection by human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV).

Every year, there are 53,000 new cases of cervical cancer [1] and 14,700 cases of anogenital cancers [2] that can be attributed to HPV. Furthermore, HBV can cause liver cancer, which leads to 60,000 deaths among Europeans annually [3], [4].

It is time to champion prevention across our health policies. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with all stakeholders towards the elimination of vaccine-preventable cancers in Europe.

References:

[1] HPV Information Centre (2023), Human Papillomavirus and Related Diseases Report. Accessible at:
https://hpvcentre.net/statistics/reports/XEX.pdf?t=1637596552197

[2] ECDC (2020), Guidance on HPV vaccination in EU countries: focus on boys, people living with HIV and 9-valent HPV vaccine introduction. Accessible at:
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Guidance-on-HPV-vaccination-in-EU-countries2020-03-30.pdf

[3] ECDC (2017), Facts about Hepatitis B. Accessible at:
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/hepatitis-b/facts

[4] MCS Wong et al, “International Incidence and Mortality Trends of Liver Cancer: A Global Profile”, 2017. Accessible at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5374459

 

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