European Centre for Disease Prevention

ESCAIDE 2026 Abstract Submissions Open Until 18 May

ECDC has announced the opening of abstract submissions for ESCAIDE 2026, Europe's leading public health conference dedicated to infectious disease epidemiology and public health microbiology. Researchers and public health professionals may submit abstracts via the online platform by 18 May 2026 (23:59 CEST). Notifications of acceptance or rejection will be issued by 30 June, with the conference scheduled for 18–20 November in Stockholm and online.

Three EU/EEA Countries Achieve 90% HPV Vaccination Coverage Target

The ECDC published a report on HPV vaccination programmes in the EU/EEA marking 15 years of progress. Three EU/EEA countries (Iceland, Portugal, Norway) have reached the 2024 EU Council Recommendation target of 90% HPV vaccination coverage among girls by age 15. All EU/EEA countries now recommend HPV vaccination for adolescent girls and boys. A Swedish study showed vaccination before age 17 reduces cervical cancer incidence by 88%. ECDC also launched a new vaccination coverage dashboard.

European Immunization Week 2026: For Every Generation, Vaccines Work

ECDC published a news article marking European Immunization Week 2026 (19–25 April) under the theme 'For every generation, vaccines work.' The article highlights surveillance data including 350 measles cases as of 28 February 2026, nearly 210,000 pertussis cases in 2024 (an eight-fold increase from 2023), and over 25,000 invasive pneumococcal disease cases annually in 2023–2024. ECDC also released a new HPV vaccination programme report and launched a vaccination coverage dashboard for EU/EEA.