Andréa Ammon, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) met on Tuesday 22 March with MEPs from the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) to discuss the ECDC’s work.
Dr Ammon spoke about ECDC’s actions in relation to the consequences of Russian military aggression against Ukraine. The Centre is taking part in meetings on security and health with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Civil Protection (DG ECHO), the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), and representatives from Ukraine.
At the end of February, the ECDC held a meeting with representatives from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and the Czech Republic to identify the needs of the countries and provide appropriate support.
The ECDC has published infectious disease awareness documents and guidance for temporary reception centres.
Coverage of polio, measles and Covid-19 is a priority for ECDC. Staff from the Centre were deployed as part of a mission coordinated by DG ECHO to provide technical expertise and establish a rapid response and monitoring system. This mission is being conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in Poland and the health authorities. Other missions are being announced. The ECDC has a large pool of volunteer staff for such deployments.
The Centre has established an internal coordination working group, independent of the health emergency team on Covid-19. “Everything that is done for refugees also helps to protect the population of the host countries”, added Andréa Ammon.
She recalled that the Covid-19 epidemic is not over: mortality rates are decreasing on average, but 6,000 people are dying every week in the EU.
Seventy-two percent of the general European population has completed a first vaccination schedule, and 52 percent of this population has received a booster dose. Vaccination has levelled off since October 2021. Large disparities persist among the Member States. The States with the lowest coverage are located in the eastern part of the EU. Eleven countries were contacted to identify the reasons for the low vaccination rate. Webinars and training courses have been organised. Dr Ammon admits that this will be a long-term job.
Many Member States have achieved a high level of immunity, Andréa Ammon stressed. The future trajectory of the pandemic will be influenced by several factors: the duration of immunity, cross-protection, and the emergence of new variants. Andréa Ammon expects the epidemiological situation to continue to fluctuate, with SARS-Cov-2 resurfacing sporadically and putting pressure on health systems.
Dr Ammon stresses the need for preparation and vigilance, especially for this winter. Cases could then increase significantly. “The country’s surveillance system needs to be adapted to be able to record this in terms of severity and at the community level”, Dr Ammon said, referring to the ECDC recommendations published in October.
The Centre has received an expanded budget to assist Member States in developing a virus genome sequencing infrastructure.
However, Andréa Ammon believes that achieving much higher vaccination coverage will be very difficult, especially as some countries are closing down vaccination centres. The Director hopes that the States have developed plans to reactivate the centres this autumn.
“The pandemic has shown the limits of our action. We are a scientific agency with no management role in the European architecture. We make recommendations for decision-makers”.
But Andréa Ammon adds that the pandemic has given ECDC visibility, which has attracted bright new staff as part of the Centre’s strengthening of its mandate.
As part of this strengthened mandate, ECDC is working on a Memorandum of Understanding with HERA which aims, among other things, to divide work and avoid duplication.
Apart from the Covid issue, international collaboration is strong: intense work is taking place with the WHO and the Global Control Centres. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)