Seasonal flu and its complications affect people of all ages every winter. In Europe, about 50 million people get sick from them every year. The most effective way to protect yourself from the disease is the flu vaccine. How can the changing flu viruses be combated more effectively in the future and people protected from the disease?
One of the priority projects of the European Union's cancer control program aims to root out cancers caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) by 2030 in the EU. The EU's goal is vaccination coverage exceeding 90% for girls and a significant increase in vaccination coverage for boys.
Vaccines should be used more effectively.
Mika Rämet
Professor of Paediatrics and Experimental Immunology
New things are easily seen as something to be afraid of. For example, why should the completely new RNA vaccine technology be used against COVID-19 when there are more traditional ways to produce vaccines that have been used for a long time?
We often have reservations about things that are new and unknown to us. During the coronavirus pandemic, there have been misgivings about vaccines. For example, the media have asked whether mRNA vaccines can change our genetic code or have other serious health effects. My attitude towards vaccines reflects my broad and varied experience as a researcher. My work has involved RNA for more than 20 years. I’m therefore very familiar with the technology and mechanism of action of mRNA vaccines. I also know that this technology is safe.
In our guest blog at rokotustieto.fi, Mika Rämet, Director of the Vaccine Research Centre, explains why being vaccinated is particularly important during the coronavirus pandemic.
In the Rokotustieto.fi guest blog, Mika Rämet, Director of Tampere University’s Vaccine Research Center, explains the factors that have an impact on establishing a vaccination coverage that is sufficient to achieve herd immunity.
I am often asked how high vaccination coverage should be in order to establish herd immunity. I dodge the question just as often by saying that there is no precise figure to give. The higher the vaccination coverage, the easier it is to suppress an epidemic.
