Through the resolution, the European Parliament calls on different actions including:
- Create a European Health Union to strengthen cooperation between Member States and explore all possibilities in terms of how much EU action can be undertaken;
- Propose the creation of a European Health Response Mechanism (EHRM) to prepare countries for future health crises;
- Create a digital exchange platform to facilitate the exchange of epidemiological data, best exchange practices between healthcare professionals and hospitals;
- Create a European Health Data Space in order to improve standardisation, interoperability, data sharing and international health data standards;
- Ensure affordable access for all citizens to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, as soon as they are available;
- Strengthen the role of the EDCD, the EMA and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).
- Through the EU Pharmaceutical Strategy, the Commission is called to address the problems of pharmaceutical supply chains, which should include specific measures to increase the production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and medicines in Europe;
- Assess the impact of intellectual property (IP) incentives on biomedical innovation and to explore credible and effective alternatives to exclusive protections for the financing of medical R&D.
It appears that the MEPs collectively succeeded in incorporating the lessons learnt of the past few months in a coherent EU strategy for public health. Much expectation is attributed to EU-wide digitalisation in collecting, analysing, using and sharing health data – aspects which are crucial to the management of future health crises and NCDs.
The full adopted resolution can be found here.
