BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union aims to stockpile critical medical equipment and vaccines in case of future health crises and to set up a network to ease coordination among EU countries, European crisis chief Hadja Lahbib said on Wednesday.
The 27-country bloc is scarred by the memory of the COVID-19 pandemic when it faced a shortage of vaccines and protective masks.
“We need a long-term strategy to make sure that essential supplies that keep society running are always available,” European Commissioner Lahbib told a news conference.
Under the EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures Strategies, the EU will draw up a priority list of medical equipment to be stockpiled in Europe, including vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and personal protective equipment.
The EU will double investments in the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, known as HERA for short, to 200 million euros ($234 million) by 2027, Lahbib said. The scheme funds research and development projects.
She said the European Commission will also launch a Medical Countermeasures Accelerator to serve as a one-stop shop to help companies access financing to develop health technologies.
A European and Global Wastewater Sentinel System will be set up to collect samples from European airports to detect disease hotspots and monitor in real time the evolution of outbreaks.
Under a measure called the Medifence initiative, the EU will collaborate with NATO’s Joint Health group to draw up a list of dual-use medical countermeasures – usable for both military and civilian purposes – such as antidotes and chemical protections.
As part of the Stockpiling Strategy, the EU will develop a Stockpiling Network with member states to coordinate their initiatives and avoid duplicate funding.
“We know that some countries are stockpiling on their own, but we don’t know who has what. The first step is to exchange information,” Lahbib said.
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(Reporting by Milan Strahm; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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