Vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis

Overview

During the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, the number of reported cases of selected infectious diseases is decreasing thanks to the applied distance measures. In contrast, in 2020, the increase in tick-borne encephalitis continued for the sixth year. As found by an agency survey on a representative sample of the population, despite the high awareness in society of the existence of this disease (92%), the possibility of vaccination (81%), the vaccination rate in the Czech Republic is still only 33%.

In the Czech Republic, the highest incidence of tick-borne encephalitis is reported among all countries of the European Union, yet the vaccination rate is the lowest of all endemic countries. In 2020, the number of reported cases of tick-borne encephalitis rose to a record 854 cases and the corresponding incidence of 7.98 per 100 thousand inhabitants. The most affected age group for 2020 was the 60-64 age group, but a doubling of the number of reported diseases compared to the previous year was observed even in the smallest and preschool children.

For the evaluation of vaccination programmes at national levels, the analysis of vaccination coverage data is one of the main starting points. To monitor vaccination coverage in the case of vaccinations not covered by public health insurance, we use agency surveys that we have had available according to a comparable methodology for the last three years, not only in the Czech Republic, but also in neighboring countries.

By introducing a reimbursed vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis from 1 January 2022 for people over 50 years of age, it will be possible to use data from the National Register of Reimbursed Health Services (NR-HZS) to monitor vaccination coverage in this group. From 1 January 2022, the obligation of health service providers to create records of vaccinations carried out in the national register, which will be administered by the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) as an electronic vaccination card system, has come into force. In the future, this offers another possibility of recording vaccinations carried out and monitoring vaccination coverage for vaccinations not covered by health insurance, but recommended. Without sufficient data on vaccination coverage, it is impossible to monitor the level of immunization and susceptibility of the population to this disease.

Keywords:

vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis – covered immunizations – vaccination coverage – mandatory vaccinations – voluntary vaccinations – vaccination schedule