National approaches to the vaccination of recently arrived migrants in Europe: A comparative policy analysis across 32 European countries

Sofanne J. Ravensbergen · Laura B Nellums · Sally Hargreaves · Ymkje Stienstra · Jon S. Friedland

38 citations0/0 files storedTravel Medicine and Infectious Disease

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy Migration, Health and Trauma Migration, Racism, and Human Rights

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Migrants may be underimmunised and at higher risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, yet there has been no comprehensive examination of what policies are currently implemented across Europe targeting child and adult migrants. We analysed vaccination policies for migrants in 32 EU/EEA countries and Switzerland. METHODS: Using framework analysis, we did a comparative analysis of national policies and guidelines pertaining to vaccination in recently arrived migrants through a systematic guideline and literature review and by approaching national experts. RESULTS: Six (18.8%) of 32 countries had comprehensive policies specific to the vaccination of migrants (two focused only on child migrants, four on both adults and children). Nineteen (59.4%) countries applied their national vaccination schedule for migrant vaccinations, predominantly focusing on children; and five (15.6%) countries had circulated additional migrant-specific resources to relevant health-care providers. In six (18.8%) countries, policies on migrant vaccination focused on outbreak-specific vaccines only. In ten (31.3%) countries, policies focused on priority vaccinations, with polio being the vaccine most commonly administered and heterogeneity noted in vaccines recommended to adults, adolescents, and children. Eighteen (56.3%) countries recommended that an individual should be considered as unvaccinated where vaccination records were missing, and vaccines re-administered. Nine (28.1%) countries reported that specific vaccinations were mandatory. CONCLUSION: There is considerable variation in policies across Europe regarding approaches to vaccination in adult and child migrants, and a lack of clarity on optimum ways forward, what vaccines to offer, with a need for robust research in this area. More emphasis must be placed on ensuring migrant-specific guidance is disseminated to front-line healthcare professionals to improve vaccine delivery and uptake in diverse migration populations across the region.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 38 citations exist upstream.

References

2010Evidence-based clinical guidelines for immigrants and refugees 2017Health problems of newly arrived migrants and refugees in Europe 2017Vaccinations in migrants and refugees: a challenge for European health systems. A systematic review of current scientific evidence 2018How effective are approaches to migrant screening for infectious diseases in Europe? A systematic review 2012Mandatory and recommended vaccination in the EU, Iceland and Norway: results of the VENICE 2010 survey on the ways of implementing national vaccination programmes 2018Interventions to Improve Vaccination Uptake and Cost Effectiveness of Vaccination Strategies in Newly Arrived Migrants in the EU/EEA: A Systematic Review 2018Divergent approaches in the vaccination of recently arrived migrants to Europe: a survey of national experts from 32 countries, 2017

Cited by

2022Prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in migrants in Europe in the era of universal health coverage 2024Understanding the health system barriers and enablers to childhood MMR and HPV vaccination among disadvantaged, minority or underserved populations in middle- and high-income countries: a systematic review 2024The immune status of migrant populations in Europe and implications for vaccine-preventable disease control: a systematic review and meta-analysis 2022

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.