In a written answer on 17 July 2026, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Olivér Várhelyi rejected any causal link between COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and an increase in new cancer diagnoses in Greece, while casting doubt on the accuracy of the data cited by the questioner. The Commissioner stressed that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not established such an association and that Greece lacks a functioning national cancer registry, making the reported figures unreliable for trend analysis.
The answer was given to a parliamentary question by Nikolaos Anadiotis (NI), who had cited data from ECIS, OECD, GLOBOCAN and the Hellenic Cancer Federation showing a rise from 62,000 new cases in 2020 to 68,000 in 2024. Anadiotis also referenced studies linking mRNA vaccines to cancer and blood malignancies, asking whether the Commission would investigate a possible causal association.
Várhelyi clarified that ECIS incidence figures for Greece are model-based estimates, not directly measured data, and that differences between releases may reflect methodological changes rather than true incidence shifts. He noted that the most recent ECIS estimate for 2024 is 62,234 new cases, not 68,000. On vaccine safety, he reiterated that EMA continuously monitors authorised vaccines and has found no evidence of a causal link to cancer, referring the MEP to a previous answer (E-002078/2025) for further details.
The answer contains no new policy proposals, numerical targets, or commitments to investigate further. It reaffirms the Commission's reliance on EMA's scientific assessments and dismisses the premise of the question as based on flawed data. The response signals no change in EU vaccine safety surveillance or cancer monitoring policy. No institutional follow-up is expected beyond routine EMA pharmacovigilance activities.