EU to fund new health agency with $35 billion

STORY: EU Health Agency - EU to fund new health agency with $35 billion

LENGTH: 02:03

FIRST RUN: 1323

RESTRICTIONS:

TYPE: English/French/Natsound

SOURCE: EUROPEAN UNION

STORY NUMBER: 4344329

DATELINE: 16 September 2021 - Brussels

SHOTLIST:

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

EUROPEAN UNION

Brussels - 16 September 2021

1. Wide of European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides and European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton at news conference

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Margaritis Schinas, European Commission Vice-President:

"Today, we are presenting something new, a framework that would allow Europe to have all the medical countermeasures we may need to protect our people in case of health emergency. HERA (Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority) will be our main instrument to coordinate preparedness and, if needed, response in this area in close coordination with our member states, the research community and industry. This is what we are missing today."

3. Wide of news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health:

"Investing in health is our future. It's an investment into our future and for this we will ensure that here will have the necessary financial power with six billion euro over the next six years from the multiannual financial framework and this will increase to almost 30 billion if we take into account investment in health, security preparedness and response through other EU programs. It will increase even more if we consider investments made at the national level and if we leverage the involvement of the private sector in HERA, something which we plan to do."

5. Wide of news conference

6. SOUNDBITE (French) Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market

"We need a more structured and firm dialogue with the industrial community and in particular the pharmaceutical industry in this instance, so as to have more rapid access to the necessary information. It's taken us a very long time with the task force to get to the sites, to get access to carry out our own assessments because we were lacking crucial information at a time of crisis."

7. Wide of news conference

STORYLINE:

The European Union said on Thursday it will fund its new heath preparedness and rapid response agency to the tune of 30 billion euros ($35 billion) over the next six years, even pushing it higher if individual efforts from the member nations and private sector are taken into account.

Taken off guard by the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the 27-nation bloc long lagged behind the US and Britain in vaccination rates before regrouping and meeting its goal of having 70% of EU adults vaccinated this summer.

With Thursday's official launch of the HERA emergency preparedness and response authority, it wants to make sure the bloc will be ready when the next crisis strikes.

HERA will be able to draw from several of the EU's Byzantine budget lines for a total of almost 30 billion euros ($35 billion).

This however excludes investments at a member nation level and from the private sector.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who first announced plans for such a medical response agency last year, said this week that the overall total until 2027 could reach 50 billion euros ($59 billion) by 2027.

During the coronavirus crisis, the EU saw the limits of its health outreach because the essence of pandemic policies are still handled at a national level.

The EU was slow in getting the first shots in the arms of citizens and the public uproar about initial shortages was such that the need for HERA quickly became apparent.

HERA is expected to be fully operational early next year.

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