Microbiological surveillance

The choice of infectious agents and its scope are based on the current epidemiological situation and prioritised based on the relevance of microbial surveillance data and the potential to use the data for action.

In addition to microbiological surveillance the programme aims to give outbreak support as well as data for evaluations of preventive actions such as vaccinations.

Polio surveillance

The Public Health Agency of Sweden is a WHO-accredited national polio laboratory and a national polio containment coordinator responsible for Sweden's obligations to map the incidence of polioviruses in microbiological establishments in Sweden.

Seroimmunity studies

The Public Health Agency of Sweden evaluates the effect of the vaccination programme by various means including seroimmunity studies in the population. These studies are carried out to determine whether the immunity in the population changes over time. This may, for example, lead to changes in the national vaccination programme, such as the relocation of booster doses or vaccines being withdrawn, changed or introduced.

Sentinel influenza and SARS-CoV-2 surveillance

The sentinel surveillance for influenza started the 2006-07 season and involves sentinel sampling in primary care, infection and children clinics. Since March 2020 the surveillance also included analysis for SARS-CoV-2. Sentinel sampling enables the Public Health Agency of Sweden to estimate the fraction of people with respiratory symptoms actually being infected by influenza virus or SARS-CoV-2. The Public Health Agency of Sweden is also able to monitor which strains of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 variants that are circulatining in the population and whether vaccines and antivirals are effective or resistance has developed, respectively. Sweden is part of the European ECDC network Vaccination Effectivity, Burden and Impact Studies (VEBIS) of influenza and covid-19 that estimates vaccine efficacy yearly.