Tick-Borne Encephalitis Vaccine Effectiveness and Impact in Slovenia, 2019–2024
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design and Population
2.2. Case Definition and Case Data
2.3. Vaccine Uptake
2.4. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Surveillance-Reported TBE Cases
3.2. General Population Survey
3.3. TBE Vaccine Effectiveness
3.4. TBE Cases Prevented by Vaccination
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
| ECDC | European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control |
| NIJZ | National Institute of Public Health |
| PCV | Proportion of tick-borne encephalitis cases who were fully vaccinated |
| PPY | Per population per year |
| PPV | Proportion of persons in the general population surveys who were fully vaccinated |
| SURS | Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia |
| TBE | Tick-borne encephalitis |
| TBEV | Tick-borne encephalitis virus |
| VE | Vaccine effectiveness |
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| Surveillance-Reported TBE Cases * | General Population Survey Respondents | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Case | Sensitivity Analysis | ||
| Among TBE cases/survey respondents | n = 637 | n = 637 | n = 29,075 |
| Known vaccination history | 332 (52.1%) | 332 (52.1%) | 25,242 (86.8%) |
| Unknown vaccination history | 305 (47.9%) | 305 (47.9%) | 3833 (13.2%) |
| Among those with known vaccination history | n = 332 | n = 332 | n = 25,242 |
| Vaccinated with ≥1 dose | 10 (3.0%) | 10 (3.0%) | 10.623 (42.1%) |
| Unvaccinated | 322 (97.0%) | 322 (97.0%) | 14,619 (57.9%) |
| Among those vaccinated with ≥1 dose | n = 10 | n = 10 | n = 10,623 |
| Known vaccine doses | 7 (70.0%) | 7 (70.0%) | 4780 (45.0%) |
| Unknown vaccine doses | 3 (30.0%) | 3 (30.0%) | 5843 (55.0%) |
| Among those vaccinated with ≥1 dose with known vaccine doses | n − 7 | n = 7 | n = 5843 |
| Partially vaccinated | 2 (28.6%) | 5 (71.4%) | 3235 (67.7%) |
| Fully vaccinated | 5 (71.4%) | 2 (28.6%) | 1545 (32.3%) |
| Estimates of vaccine uptake | |||
| Fully vaccinated | 97.0% | 97.0% | 13.6% |
| Partially vaccinated | 1.5% | 2.4% | 28.5% |
| Unvaccinated | 1.5% | 0.6% | 57.9% |
| Number of Surveillance -Reported TBE Cases | Number (Percent) of Surveillance- Reported TBE Cases with Known Vaccination History | Number (Percent) of Surveillance- Reported TBE Cases with Known Vaccination History Who Were Unvaccinated | Sensitivity-Analysis Scenario | Base-Case Scenario | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Fully Vaccinated Cases | VE (95% CI) | Number of Fully Vaccinated Cases | VE (95% CI) | |||
| 637 | 332 (52.1) | 322 (97.0) | 2 | 97.4 (89.4, 99.3) | 5 | 93.4 (84.0–97.3) |
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© 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
Share and Cite
Kordež, J.; Angulo, F.J.; Zhang, P.; Davidson, A.; Edwards, J.; Harper, L.R.; Pilz, A.; Gould, H. Tick-Borne Encephalitis Vaccine Effectiveness and Impact in Slovenia, 2019–2024. Pathogens 2026, 15, 503. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens15050503
Kordež J, Angulo FJ, Zhang P, Davidson A, Edwards J, Harper LR, Pilz A, Gould H. Tick-Borne Encephalitis Vaccine Effectiveness and Impact in Slovenia, 2019–2024. Pathogens. 2026; 15(5):503. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens15050503
Chicago/Turabian StyleKordež, Jan, Frederick J. Angulo, Pingping Zhang, Alexander Davidson, Juanita Edwards, Lisa R. Harper, Andreas Pilz, and Hannah Gould. 2026. "Tick-Borne Encephalitis Vaccine Effectiveness and Impact in Slovenia, 2019–2024" Pathogens 15, no. 5: 503. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens15050503
APA StyleKordež, J., Angulo, F. J., Zhang, P., Davidson, A., Edwards, J., Harper, L. R., Pilz, A., & Gould, H. (2026). Tick-Borne Encephalitis Vaccine Effectiveness and Impact in Slovenia, 2019–2024. Pathogens, 15(5), 503. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens15050503

