The approaching seasonal influenza and the resurgence of Covid-19 cases across Europe are going to place an enormous burden on already strained health care services. Implementing flu vaccination programmes in times of Covid-19 will be particularly challenging and it is urgent to put in place effective vaccination campaigns that can help preventing hospitalisations, ensuring adequate access and uptake of flu vaccines especially for at risk groups....

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis community pharmacists have been working with tireless commitment and determination to guarantee patients continued access to treatments. They have been accessible 24/7 also during the lockdown and have arranged home delivery services for the most vulnerable people. Throughout the crisis, they have been the first line of advice, treatment and referral for many European citizens on common ailments, success...

European community pharmacists are in the frontline in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and they are doing everything in their power to support their patients, including in areas currently in lockdown. PGEU members have offered national governments their wide local pharmacies network to assist the health authorities in the dissemination of information to citizens on how to prevent the spread of the virus. They have launc...

The professional and student organisations representing medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists and veterinarians in Europe call on policy makers, academics and professionals to promote an interdisciplinary exchange under the One Health approach in education. The European organisations are committed to organising regular roundtables in different European regions to debate the need to update current curricula and promote interdisciplinary collabora...

Each year PGEU conducts a survey among its membership to map the impact of medicine shortages across Europe from the community pharmacists’ perspective. The 2019 PGEU Medicine Shortages Survey Results cover the responses from 24 European countries. Main findings of the survey: All responding countries experienced medicine shortages in community pharmacies in the past 12 months, and the vast majority (87%) of respondents indicated that the situ...

Following the publication of the European Commission Communication on a European Union Strategic Approach to Pharmaceuticals in the Environment in March 2019, community pharmacists reinforce their commitment to reduce and prevent the impact of pharmaceuticals in the environment. PGEU President Michal Byliniak said: “Community pharmacists across Europe share the increasing concerns on the negative effects pharmaceuticals can cause on the envi...

Today PGEU celebrates its 60th anniversary with a special event in the European Parliament. This occasion is an opportunity to acknowledge the community pharmacists’ vital contribution to the health of people over the last decades and discuss how to shape the pharmacy of the future to better meet patients’ needs. The event brings together several Members of the European Parliament, senior officials from the European Commission and OECD, re...

Today the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union has elected Mr Duarte Santos, Member of the Board of the Portuguese Pharmacy Association (ANF), as PGEU President for 2020, at its General Assembly meeting in Kraków, Poland. In his acceptance speech Mr. Santos stressed: “I’m truly honoured to have been appointed as PGEU President 2020. Pharmacy practice is rapidly evolving and shifting the focus from dispensing medicines to advanced patie...

Today the Council of the European Union adopted a Recommendation on strengthened cooperation against vaccine preventable diseases. The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) welcomes the Council Recommendation as a basis to improving vaccine coverage and tackling vaccine hesitancy in the EU. PGEU supports the call to facilitate access to vaccination services by simplifying and broadening the opportunities to offer vaccination, leveragi...

Today the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union has elected Mr Michał Byliniak from the Polish Pharmaceutical Chamber, NIA, as PGEU President for 2019, at its General Assembly meeting in Marbella, Spain. Pharmacist by profession, Mr Michał Byliniak graduated from the pharmaceutical faculty of the Warsaw Medical University, Poland. Currently, he is the vice-president of the Polish Pharmaceutical Chamber and has over 15 years of professional...