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Background

EUVAC.NET was created for the purposes of epidemiological surveillance and control of vaccine-preventable diseases in the European Community. This was in line with the European Parliament and Council Decision No. 2119/98/EC which formed the basis of creating networks for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the European Community.

In 1999 an agreement was reached between the Commission (DG SANCO) and Statens Serum Institut (SSI) in Denmark whereby the Department of Epidemiology of the SSI was to coordinate a collaborative surveillance network. With the current grant agreement effective from October 2005 EUVAC.NET incorporates in its surveillance network all 25 EU Member States together with Bulgaria , Croatia , Iceland , Norway , Romania , Turkey and Switzerland.

Relevant excerpts from the grant agreement relating to the general conditions and workpackages are found here as pdf documents:
- General conditions
- Work-packages
EUVAC.NET participating countries - links to collaborating institutes                                  
Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Luxembourg Malta The Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Estonia Hungary Latvia Lethuania Poland Romania Slovakia Slovenia Turkey Croatia
From the start, EUVAC.NET focused primarily on measles surveillance as this is an important strategy to meet the objective of measles elimination from Europe. EUVAC.NET works in close collaboration with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO Euro) on this issue. EUVAC.NET had also started its first phase of pertussis surveillance by contracting the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) in Italy. With the new grant agreement EUVAC.NET aims to incorporate in its activities other childhood vaccine-preventable diseases namely rubella (and congenital rubella syndrome), mumps and varicella.

Methods
EUVAC.NET primarily uses epidemiological and managerial methods for its operation. The project coordinator collaborates with each of the national surveillance institutions in the participating countries through a contact person known as the gatekeeper. Communication is through the electronic medium on a regular basis and at annual or focused meetings. Moreover, EUVAC.NET also collaborates with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Updated: 1 December 2006