Europe united against old and new pandemics

ECRIN attended and presented at the Conference 'Europe united against old and new pandemics' on May 14-15 in Antwerp, hosted by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2024 at A Room with a ZOO. The event brought together leading experts, researchers, and policymakers to look back at COVID-19 and discuss how to ensure future pandemic readiness. Jacques Demotes, ECRIN's General Director and Cornelius Schmaltz, Deputy Head of HERA, chaired the working session on “European collaboration on clinical trials”.

Some of the key takeaways for ECRIN include:
- The timeline of COVID-19 vaccine development was rooted in many years of basic science and the One Health approach.
- One Health and Planetary Health are key areas to help understand the root causes of disease emergence, and should be an integral part of pandemic readiness plans. 

Many other topics were thoroughly covered, including international cooperation and clinical trial networks.