Crisis preparedness: HaDEA signs 11 grant agreements under the EU4Health programme

HaDEA has recently signed 11 grant agreements supporting the activities of the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) in the area of crisis preparedness, for a total EU contribution of €158 million under the EU4Health programme. The overarching aim is to improve the availability, accessibility and affordability of medical countermeasures: 

• The European Vaccine Hub for Pandemic Readiness will create a European Hub for public health-relevant vaccine development, combining excellence in vaccine development with clinical trials and activities for scaling manufacturing.
• Two grants will bring next generation respiratory protection to the market to provide sustainable, universal and effective choices for the personal protection of healthcare and other essential workers, patients and the public.
• Five grants will improve manufacturing technologies and processes that allow for a more effective, less expensive, easier to scale-up, more sustainable and cleaner production of medicines in the Union. The actions will support rapid scale-up of EU pharmaceutical production in the context of a health emergency or to prevent critical shortages of critical medicines.
• One grant will develop and further characterise broad-spectrum antiviral mRNA for pandemic preparedness.
• The Joint Action STOCKPILE will strengthen the European independence in crisis by contributing to:
  • Better preparedness against serious cross-border threats to health;
  • More sustainable stockpiles of medical countermeasures (MCMs);
  • Faster distribution, deployment and dispensing of MCMs;
  • Better collaboration between EU countries;
  • Better evidence-base for future proposals on stockpiling of MCMs.
• The direct grant to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine will accelerate Mpox testing and sequencing in Africa. 

These grants were signed as a result of the 2024 EU4Health calls on crisis preparedness, supporting the policy priority to enhance crisis preparedness and response for future health emergencies in relation to medical countermeasures in line with the mandate of HERA.  

Background 

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders.    

The European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) was established in response to lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. HERA supports projects that strengthen the EU’s capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to serious health emergencies, ensuring the timely availability of critical medical countermeasures.