The special committee of MEPs, which was established in March 2022, sought to assess the pandemic’s impact on Europe’s health systems and general society.
To better prevent and respond to future public health threats, MEPs looking into the EU’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic have called for increased investment in research and innovation.
In its final report, which the European Parliament’s special committee on Covid-19 adopted on June 12, the COVID-19 committee stated that “it is crucial to step up research on, and development of, responses to pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential prior to epidemics and pandemics.”
According to estimates from the World Health Organization, COVID was responsible for millions of deaths in Europe during the first two years of the pandemic, and perhaps millions more are still suffering from lingering effects like fatigue.
The special committee of MEPs, which was established in March 2022, sought to assess the pandemic’s impact on Europe’s health systems and general society, as well as the effectiveness of various interventions, such as vaccination campaigns.
MEPs examining the European Union‘s response to the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of more investment in research and innovation. Their call for increased investment aims to enhance the ability to prevent and effectively respond to future public health threats.
With 23 votes in favour and 13 votes against, it was decided to adopt its report, which claimed that the EU was “not prepared to cope” with the pandemic and that “everyone made mistakes” in how it handled the “unprecedented situation.”
The EU should now learn from those errors, it continued, in order to better position itself to respond to pandemics in the future.
The report stated that although EU member states “faced obstacles” regarding research funding and that there was a “lack of adequate funding and resources” for monitoring and data surveillance, the level of public funding for R&D was “sufficient for the rapid development of vaccines.”
It urged the creation of “open centres” for research and production as well as development partnerships in order to “bridge the persistent gap in research and medicine production” using EU strategies for business, intellectual property, and pharmaceuticals.
It emphasised the importance of “robust IP protection” and added that major pharmaceutical companies improved the creation and supply of medical tools by “owning IP, technologies, and data.”
More investigation into the long-term effects of COVID on health was also recommended by the report. On the committee’s report, the European Parliament is anticipated to vote in July.
Lead author and MEP Dolors Montserrat stated: “We must further strengthen the EU to protect our healthcare professionals, not ignore any disease, and assist the most vulnerable.
“We must increase research, combat false information and cyberattacks, and build a vibrant pharmaceutical industry that strengthens the EU’s strategic autonomy in the health sector.”