Increased access to vaccination for disadvantaged, isolated and difficult to reach groups of population (Heading 1.2.1.5 of the AWP 2020)

Deadline: Jun 3, 2020  
CALL EXPIRED

Background and purpose of the call:

Increased access to vaccination for disadvantaged, isolated and difficult‑to‑reach groups of population

Objectives pursued and expected results:

The main objective of the call is to address cross-border threats produced by infectious diseases in order to reduce risks and mitigate their consequences.

The most efficient public health and primary prevention measure is vaccination. However, vaccine preventable diseases are not completely controlled in the EU as the vaccination coverage is not the adequate one in all countries and for all vaccines. Even if the coverage of 95% of the population -the one considered necessary for herd immunity- is achieved, it is not equally distributed in specific geographic areas and population groups and there are gaps that produce specific vulnerable groups for the development of vaccine preventable diseases.

Differences in access to health services, health literacy, or provision of information can have an impact in the percentage of population vaccinated.

As demonstrated in recent health crisis, the level of health security of the EU is the one of the less prepared or most affected country. Infectious diseases do not have borders, and EU Member States need a high vaccination coverage in the whole EU, and specific focus on vulnerable population is required.

The Council Recommendation on strengthened cooperation against vaccine-preventable diseases[1] welcomes the Commission’s decision to identify barriers to access to vaccines and support interventions that increase access for disadvantaged and socially excluded groups, including by promoting health mediators and grassroots community networks, in line with national recommendations.

The objectives of the action are to:

• support Member States to reduce the transmission and outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases by increasing vaccination uptake among disadvantaged and socially excluded groups of population (excluding newly arrived migrants, which are targeted in TOPIC PJ-06-2020 of this call).
• to close vaccination coverage gaps in disadvantaged and socially excluded groups, taking into account a life course approach.

Description of the activities to be funded under this topic:

• Activities to increase access to vaccination of disadvantaged and socially excluded groups, because of economic, educational, geographical or physical isolation or other reasons, in general or in specific settings, thereby improving the uptake of both childhood and life-course vaccines in individuals. The target population in this topic shall not be newly arrived migrants, which are targeted in TOPIC PJ-06-2020 of this call.
• Development, dissemination and implementation of systematic approaches for guidance on increasing access to vaccination.
• Systematic check-ups of vaccination status of the populations concerned and follow up to comply with the national recommendations.
• Activities aimed to increase health literacy of the concerned population and health professionals and health mediators taking care of them.
• The projects shall have sufficient impact on the EU population and shall be implemented in at least 5 different eligible countries with similar population group in all of them.
• The target population shall be disadvantaged and difficult-to-reach groups because of economic, social, educational, ethnical or health reasons, living in close communities and others
• The projects shall aim to increase vaccination coverage, and shall only be focused in vaccine preventable diseases that are part of the official vaccination programmes approved by the national or regional authorities
• Activities funded under this topic shall not be exclusively based on research or a theoretical approach, but shall have an emphasis on implementation at country level. Projects that work exclusively on elaboration of guidelines, educational material or description of differences in vaccination status will not be considered as sufficient for this call.
• The projects must be able to demonstrate the increase in the vaccination uptake of the targeted populations; The exclusive elaboration of guidelines, educational material or description of differences in vaccination status will not be considered as eligible projects responding to the criteria of the call

Expected impact:

Reduced transmission of vaccine-preventable diseases through an increased vaccination uptake among disadvantaged population groups.

Budget

Available budget for this topic: 1.000.000 EUR for 1 or more projects.

The grant agreement(s) will be awarded to those ranked highest, up to the available budget of 1.000.000 EUR (EU-Contribution).

[1]Council Recommendation of 7 December 2018 on strengthened cooperation against vaccine-preventable diseases 2018/C 466/01 (OJ C 466, 28.12.2018, p. 1.).