Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides met with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra in Washington on Friday 14 October to reaffirm the European Commission’s and the United States’ shared commitment to transatlantic cooperation on health.
This meeting follows the Transatlantic Arrangement signed on 19 May in Dublin on enhanced cooperation between the European Commission and the United States on preparedness and response to public health threats. This arrangement is one of the outcomes of the EU-US agenda to defeat the global pandemic.
The two leaders discussed joint efforts to curb the Covid-19 pandemic and improve pandemic preparedness. Mrs Kyriakides and Mr Becerra stressed the importance of research and production of Covid-19 vaccines in order to ensure global deployment of these vaccines. They want to learn from the COVAX initiative to work towards global health security and equitable access to vaccines.
They also discussed cancer control, prevention and detection and explored possibilities for mutual support and cooperation between the European Cancer Plan (see EUROPE 12650/1) and the US “Cancer Moonshoot Biobank” initiative launched by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to accelerate research.
Mrs Kyriakides and Mr Becerra discussed the health situation in Ukraine in the context of the Russian military aggression and reaffirmed their commitment to support patients in urgent need of treatment.
They also confirmed their wish to cooperate in the negotiations for a new international instrument for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (see EUROPE 12844/2). (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)