Pandemic preparedness

Expected Outcome:

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 3 “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to some of the following expected outcomes:

• The scientific community has better understanding of the biology of the pathogens (virus, bacteria etc.), its transmission, its interaction with humans, animals and plants, in particular in view of emerging threats to human health, such as infectious diseases and anti-microbial resistance.
• Health care providers and practitioners have access to and use appropriate medical countermeasures, e.g. vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and digital solutions.
• Health authorities have the evidence-base and tools for better public health measures.

Scope:

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed weaknesses in the ability of the Union and its Member States to respond quickly and effectively to such an unprecedented health emergency. Therefore, the Commission is stepping up its efforts in supporting the Union’s ability to respond to serious cross-border threats.

Member States agreed to step up their coordination in the area of pandemic preparedness research and aim to establish a European partnership on pandemic preparedness. A dedicated coordination support action^[1] will help develop a common long-term Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for such a partnership.

A key component for the European Health Union will be the establishment of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) for which the Commission will put forward a legislative proposal by the end of 2021. It should build on experiences dealing with COVID-19, SARS and influenza, and consider emerging biological threats to human health, e.g. in the context of climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss.

This topic aims to contribute and complement both of these initiatives, notably by addressing priority research and innovation gaps also identified by Member States and that would contribute and support the establishment and work of a potential future Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

Research focussing on ‘pathogen X’ from threat assessment, horizon scanning for the identification of potential medical countermeasures and innovative technologies, including the development of standardised research protocols would be in the scope of this topic.

[1] HORIZON-HLTH-2021-DISEASE-04-06: Building a European partnership for pandemic preparedness