EU countries must act in a coordinated manner to combat the unavailability of medicines or antimicrobial resistance. This is also the case in the case of improving food and vaccination, and this message was sent by the Minister of Health of the Slovak Republic Tomáš Drucker and the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis during the joint press conference following the informal meeting of EU Health Ministers (EPSCO) held in Bratislava on 3 and 4 October.

The meeting at the highest level showed that European countries will continue to strive to improve food quality and nutritional composition. As regards the unavailability of medicinal products, all Member States are currently addressing this serious problem, although the scope and reasons vary. The lack of availability of medicines should be seen in a number of respects, including as regards the availability of innovative medicines, said the head of the Slovak health department T. Drucker. Ministers agreed that the supply of medicines is crucial for each Member State. The European Commission supports the work of the European Medicines Agencies to map the situation and find solutions. We agree that authorisation holders must ensure continuous delivery of medicinal products so that patients' needs are ensured in each Member State, said Euro Commissioner V. Andriukaitis. His words were also confirmed during the meeting by the WHO Regional Director Zsuzsanna Jakab: The lack of medicines is a serious problem because it can endanger patient care and may also affect the economy.. Ministers discussed how to stop parallel exports, often going beyond business ethics. They also discussed the possibility of examining whether the rules on the free movement of goods in the EU should take precedence over the protection of public health. They agreed that medicines could not be considered as a standard commercial commodity. They also outlined the possible exclusion of medicinal products from the free movement of goods. We have not closed this issue, the point is that we have been able to talk about it, T. Drucker said. Ministers focused on both antimicrobial resistance and vaccination and the associated increase in tuberculosis prevalence in Europe. Some Member States are facing the problems of a shortage of vaccines due to the increasing demand for vaccines and production problems. We will look together for solutions within the framework of the rules on free movement of goods in the EU to eliminate the outages of vaccine supply in some Member States, stated the Minister of Health of the Slovak Republic. According to the European Commissioner, vaccination must be addressed at European level. It is alarming that as a result of its decline, the number of measles and seasonal flus is increasing. For example, Romania recorded rubella this year for the first time in 30 years, with six people dying from the disease. Europeans globally show the lowest confidence in vaccination, which is why vaccination in our region is declining. The fact that we have so many critics shows thatvaccination programmes are insufficient. Acceptance of vaccines and "weightiness" should be addressed; said V. Andriukaitis. The EU's objective remains to completely eliminate tuberculosis as a cross-border threat to health by 2050. Further dialogue between Member States will also be crucial on this subject. Early prevention, monitoring and available diagnostics, especially for socially weaker populations, are important. Another informal meeting of health ministers from 28 EU countries will take place next March. At that time Malta will chair the EU Council.