On Monday January 10, Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, will be in Stockholm where she will meet Swedish Minister of Health Lena Hallengren. Discussions will focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, including the EU’s vaccine strategy and the roll-out of the national vaccination campaign in Sweden, as well as the follow-up to the proposals made within the framework of the European Health Union.
The meeting will be followed by a visit to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), where Commissioner and Minister Hallengren will meet ECDC Director Andrea Ammon.
Ahead of the visit, Commissioner Kyriakides said: “The success of the European vaccine strategy is the result of European collaboration and solidarity. In Sweden, almost 85% of the adult population is now fully vaccinated, which is a truly impressive result. However, the rapid spread of Omicron in Europe and around the world shows that vaccination and booster efforts are more important than ever to protect people from the most serious effects of the virus.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has been at the forefront of our joint response to the pandemic, providing invaluable scientific advice to Member States over the past two years to protect them. citizens and save lives. Without this work, coordination at EU level would not have been as strong as it is today. That is why we must continue to build a strong European Health Union which protects our citizens.
This visit is part of the Commission’s continued efforts and Commissioner Kyriakides’ commitment to support the rollout of national COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Member States and to address the impact of COVID-19 on other diseases.