Document 54
Meeting with the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union – 10.10.17
Participants:
x EC: Xavier Prats Monné,
,
x PGEU:
Main points discussed per topic:
x
Vaccination
o XPM explained the commitment of the EC to work on vaccination in cooperation
with MSs in particular on the problem of vaccination hesitancy and the different
schedules used across Europe.
o
argumented that vaccination was a primary health practice that could
be done by pharmacists. The problem is that most pharmacies get paid for the
margins and not for the services they provide and also that normative regarding
what pharmacists are allowed to do are different in different MSs.
o XPM asked PGEU to provide ideas / intiatives that the EC could do in the context of a
Council recommendation without being normative (such as the 2009 Council
recommendation on seasonal influenza coverage which was recommended to be
75% of at risk populations).
o
invited XPM to the PGEU General Assembly to discuss further on the
topic and praised the work done by the EC on position papers, policy papers which
they use with their members (e.g. Council recommendation).
o
also conveyed the problem of involvement of professional associations
in Joint Actions. According to her JA are now at the mercy of MSs but the policy
packages proposed are not designed with the professionals in view. For a JA to work
you need buying off if professionals which is not the case now.
o XPM recommended that they contact
for the JA on vaccination to
discuss involvement in partnership.
x
AMR
o XPM presented the main lines of the action plan and asked whether more could be
done on a qualitative scale.
o
conveyed the problem of fragmented actions for GPs, pharmacists and
the public. Coordinated actions would results in a lower use of antimicrobials. MS
should also have the ‘appetite’ to release funds to implement some actions.
x
Homeopathy
o XPM talked about the ‘creeping phenomenon’ of homeopathy and what could be
done at pharmacy level as pharmacies sell homepathy.
o
replied that the problem is that homeopathy is in the syllabus in some
MSs, so part of education, but education is a national competence so there is little
they can do. And it is necessary to differentiate when homeopathy is replacing
necessary treatments for serious diseases, so harming the patients and when
homeopathy is used as placebo for mild issues.
x
Other
o XPM reminded that the Juncker Commission has a strong focus on EU-added value in
policies so every proposal should start with thinking ‘what could Europe do’ rather
than ‘what could SANTE do’. A good example is the cross-border health threats.
o XPM will participate to PGEU GA on 16 November at 13.30. He will address the
audience on future priorities on health and current work to drive the conversation.