Investigating COVID-19 Vaccination Patterns in Europe: Is the End of the Pandemic Still Foreseeable?

Introduction

The coronavirus pandemic is a global challenge affecting the lives and livelihoods of billions globally. The unprecedented speed of the pandemic tested every ounce of science, and it led to the development of vaccines by different vaccine makers at an unprecedented pace than ever experienced before. Being one of the most important advances in modern medicine, vaccines have saved the lives of many from vaccine-preventable deaths. Credit to the success of vaccination, some of the world’s devastating pandemics including smallpox has been controlled and/ or eradicated. Vaccination is undoubtedly one of the efficacious public health arsenals of modern medicine. However, it is important to note that having safe and efficacious vaccines alone does not save lives and control a pandemic; rather, vaccination plus other public health measures do! The scale of the pandemic, vaccination, and boosters are indispensable elements for controlling the COVID-19 outbreak. Although there still could be many unanswered questions about the degree of protection, the duration of the waning of the vaccine-triggered immunity to COVID-19, how often, the variants, and the efficacy against different variants (Paul et al., 2021). During the initial drafting, there were over 175.3 million vaccine doses administered between Early December 2020 to mid-March 2021 in the EU region, however the pattern of vaccine acceptance and the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and waves of the outbreaks have barely changed compared to the current 13 billion + of vaccine doses administered globally (as of 5^th January 2023) (WHO, 2023). There is still much to be desired including attitudinal changes for effective control and eradication of the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve an efficient vaccination campaign and future boosters, public health professionals and vaccination planners need to overcome many bottlenecks including miscommunication, perceptions of vaccine safety, side effects, and efficacy (Gerussi et al., 2021, Paul et al., 2021). The ‘ever-existing’ COVID-19 with ever-changing variants and epicenters including the most recent wave in China (December 2023 wave) calls for unparalleled concerted effort and speed. With as resource intensive as vaccine development is, and vaccine producers stretched, production and supply chains tested, for the populace to rely on a single producer alone will prolong the pandemic (Sauramäki, et al, 2022). Since most of the vaccines available on the market have impeccable results in averting severe covid-19 infection and mortality, it is advisable to say that ‘the best vaccine to safe one’s life is the one that reaches him/her in time’. Reports on vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance bias have been document with multiple reasons, some preferring one vaccine to the other. Earlier reports suggested cancelling vaccination appointment times, preferring mRNA vaccine to AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccines and close to 80% of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses delivered to EU countries remained un-used for reasons of efficacy, safety and region of manufacturing (Boffey, 2021). With billions of lives at risk and tens of thousands of lives lost every day to COVID-19, it is important to evaluate the vaccines available today for their efficacy and safety from epidemiologic point of view and to promote vaccine uptake. The main aim of this paper is therefore to investigate the pattern of vaccination and vaccine acceptance retrospectively for effective control of the pandemic. This retrospective view is for future planning and for effective control of future outbreaks.