Annual influenza epidemics in the United States cause hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations.

On the European Laboratory Day, held on 5 November, the European Commission marks one year of improved coordination on surveillance data thanks to the EU reference laboratories (EURLs).

It’s difficult to predict just how severe the influenza season will be each year, but public health experts say it could be harsh in Europe due to lagging vaccination rates and early signals from far-flung countries such as Japan and Australia.

Two large-scale trials comparing high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine (HD-IIV) versus standard-dose inactivated influenza vaccine (SD-IIV) against hospitalisation outcomes have been conducted in Denmark and Spain.

The Steering Group on the Prevention of Respiratory Infections launched a new manifesto at the #EURespiDay event held at the European Parliament in Brussels

Read an interview with Marianne Takki, Head of Unit for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the European Commission

As COVID-19 transitions from a pandemic to an endemic disease, its integration into the broader policy and healthcare framework for respiratory diseases becomes imperative.

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the EU, claiming 1.7 million lives lost each year.