The European Commission is considering the characteristics of the future European Health Emergency Response and Preparedness Authority (HERA). On Tuesday 6 April, it launched a public consultation, open until 12 May, to complement a first consultation on an initial impact assessment launched earlier this year.
This new tool is announced in the 11 November Communication on combating cross-border health threats. In it, the Commission announces its intention to present in the third quarter of 2021 an Authority that would allow the EU and its Member States to rapidly deploy medical and other measures in the event of a health emergency, along the lines of the US BARDA.
The public consultation, which is open for six weeks, includes: - the EU framework to develop, manufacture and deploy medical countermeasures; - anticipatory threat and risk assessments; - market and supply chain intelligence; - the development and financing of new countermeasures in times of crisis; - the impact, role, scope and coordination of the future agency.
It should be recalled that in the initial impact assessment the Commission considers several scenarios, such as: - ad hoc solutions in case of crisis (option 0); - strengthened coordination for threat assessment and knowledge (option 1); - a stand alone Authority, either operational through public-private partnerships (option 2.1) or operational and structural (option 2.2); - a full end-to-end Authority with streamlined initiatives at European level on medical countermeasures for serious cross-border threats to health.
Link to the initial impact assessment: https://bit.ly/31NbTQl (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)