About the Authors

Esther Kissling

e.kissling@epiconcept.fr

Affiliation EpiConcept, Paris, France

Marta Valenciano

Affiliation EpiConcept, Paris, France

Jean Marie Cohen

Affiliation GROG/Open Rome, Paris, France

Beatrix Oroszi

Affiliation Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Budapest, Hungary

Anne-Sophie Barret

Affiliations Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Dublin, Ireland, European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden

Caterina Rizzo

Affiliation National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy

Pawel Stefanoff

Affiliation National Institute of Public Health, Warsaw, Poland

Baltazar Nunes

Affiliation Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal

Daniela Pitigoi

Affiliations National Institute of Research - Development for Microbiology and Immunology, Cantacuzino, Bucharest, Romania, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania

Amparo Larrauri

Affiliation National Centre for Epidemiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

Isabelle Daviaud

Affiliation GROG/Open Rome, Paris, France

Judit Krisztina Horvath

Affiliation National Center for Epidemiology, Budapest, Hungary

Joan O'Donnell

Affiliation Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Dublin, Ireland

Thomas Seyler

Affiliations EpiConcept, Paris, France, National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy

Iwona Anna Paradowska-Stankiewicz

Affiliation National Institute of Public Health, Warsaw, Poland

Pedro Pechirra

Affiliation Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal

Alina Elena Ivanciuc

Affiliation National Institute of Research - Development for Microbiology and Immunology, Cantacuzino, Bucharest, Romania

Silvia Jiménez-Jorge

Affiliation National Centre for Epidemiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

Camelia Savulescu

Affiliation EpiConcept, Paris, France

Bruno Christian Ciancio

Affiliation European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden

Alain Moren

Affiliation EpiConcept, Paris, France

Competing Interests

The authors have the following competing interest: E. Kissling, M. Valenciano, T. Seyler, C. Savulescu and A. Moren are employees of EpiConcept, Paris. J.M. Cohen and I. Daviaud are employees of GROG/Open Rome, Paris. As Head of Open Rome, J.M. Cohen is involved in several epidemiological studies that are partially or fully funded by pharmaceutical companies (Sanofi-Pasteur, GSK, Roche), nonprofit organizations (Mutuelles, Résaeu DES France) or public institutions (ECDC, CU Strasbourg). He is a member of Association Mieux Prescrire and the advisory boards of Novartis, Roche, and Wyeth (free participation, no compensation). During the past five years, he has received travel grants from Sanofi-Pasteur and Roche. I. Daviaud is involved, through the other institution with which she is affiliated and salaried (Open Rome research department), in the coordination or analysis of epidemiological studies partially or fully funded by Roche and GSK. EpiConcept conducted for the Mexican Social Security and GSK an evaluation of the Mexican hospital based surveillance system for intussusceptions (2008). EpiConcept coordinated studies for measuring influenza vaccine effectiveness funded by EVM, the association of the European Vaccine Manufacturers. None of the current authors were involved in these studies (2009). EpiConcept conducts for SP-MSD the data analysis of a study conducted in Finland to measure the impact of rotavirus vaccination on hospitalisation for acute gastroenteritis due to rotavirus infection (2009-10). There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. All other authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MV JMC CR BN DP AL JOD CS BCC AM. Performed the experiments: JMC BO ASB CR PS BN DP AL ID JKH JOD TS IAP-S PP AEI CS. Analyzed the data: EK MV AM. Participated in protocol writing: MV AM EK. Adapted GROG network database to I-MOVE design: JMC. Conceived the idea of a European network for monitoring influenza vaccine effectiveness: BCC. Wrote the first draft of the paper: EK MV. Contributed to the writing of the paper: EK MV JMC BO ASB CR PS BN DP AL ID JKH JOD TS IAP-S PP AEI SJ-J CS BCC AM.