European Parliament adopts recommendations in response to EU Safe Hearts Plan

On 16 September, the European Parliament formally adopted its recommendations in response to the EU Safe Hearts Plan.

545 MEPs voted in favour of the report, which was prepared by the Public Health Committee earlier this year. The report includes recommendations intended to tackle key risk factors and ensure early detection, improved care, preparedness & response. It calls for a coordinated approach to preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and addressing their interconnections with all other major non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, cancer, obesity and many others. 

Media reporting (Euroreporter) highlights the emphasis on prevention, and the focus on alcohol, food and tobacco and nicotine products.

The Safe Hearts Plan also recognises vaccination against infections as an effective measure to prevent cardiovascular complications in high-risk groups, and includes a proposal for a Council recommendation on vaccination against respiratory infections as a preventive measure for cardiovascular diseases.

In an interview with Vaccines Today (June 2026), ESWI Chair Colin Russell highlights the growing evidence linking respiratory infections and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), a developing research area that is also the focus of the ESWI Interdisciplinary Disease Collaboration on Respiratory Infections and Non-Communicable Diseases (IDC). As EU Member States work towards developing national cardiovascular health plans by 2027, as required by the Safe Hearts Plan, timely publication of a Council recommendation has the opportunity to help shape these national plans to reflect the burden of respiratory infections for cardiovascular health.