The role and activities of the Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) DG

Abstract HERA was established in 2021 as a key pillar of the European Health Union with the aim of strengthening the EU's capacity to prevent, detect, and respond rapidly to serious cross-border health threats. Born from the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, HERA plays a central role in ensuring the development, availability, accessibility, and equitable distribution of medical countermeasures (MCMs)-including vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and personal protective equipment-across the entire value chain. HERA operates across the full preparedness and response cycle. In the preparedness phase, it conducts intelligence gathering, threat assessments, and maps MCM availability and needs, while supporting research, innovation, manufacturing, and procurement. During crises, HERA and its Health Crisis Board play a key role in the EU's health emergency response by coordinating MCM procurement, monitoring, and deployment from EU strategic reserves, fostering research, and activating mechanisms such as the EU FAB network. HERA's governance structure includes: (a) the HERA Board-composed of Commission experts and senior Member State representatives-which sets strategic objectives; and (b) the HERA Advisory Forum, a technical body of national experts providing advice. These are supported by the Joint Industrial Cooperation Forum (e.g. vaccine manufacturers) and the CSF (e.g. patient associations, scientific societies relevant to HERA's scope, NGOs). EUPHA has participated in the closed sessions of the CSF HERA since its inception, in the concerted collaboration effort to coalesce for strategic alignment across EU MS, EU agencies, international partners, academia, industry, and civil society- and for fostering research through EU4Health, Horizon Europe, and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, and coordinating capacity-building and preparedness exercises. Speakers/Panellists Maria Gańczak Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Zielona Gora, Zielona Gora, Poland Dimitra Lingri National Organization for Health Care Services Provision/Lawyer, Athens Greece, Greece Neville Calleja Department of Health Information and Research, G'Mangia, Malta