EU: European Health Union. Commission, “strides made in health policy” since COVID-19 pandemic

The European Commission has today adopted a Communication on the European Health Union, highlighting the “strides made in EU health policy over the last four years, for the benefit of citizens in the EU and worldwide”. “The start of this mandate – a statement reads – was marked by the biggest pandemic in a century, which caused human suffering on a worldwide scale and tested public health systems to the limit.” However, the COVID-19 pandemic “also showed what EU solidarity, collaboration and decisive action can achieve. Thanks to the EU Vaccines Strategy, all EU citizens had access to life-saving COVID vaccines at the same time under the same conditions”. This, according to the Commission, “helped to stem the spread of the virus and saved millions of lives. The Digital COVID Certificate “allowed economies and societies to re-open safely, while SURE helped over 31 million workers to overcome the economic impact”. As “pandemics know no borders, our cooperation and solidarity also extended across the world. Through our Team Europe approach, the EU became the largest donor of vaccines through COVAX and provided almost €54 billion in emergency support to partner countries”.
Valentina Bombelli