Exchange with Emer Cooke, Executive Director of EMA on vaccine and COVID-19 response
27-01-2021 - 12:12
On 26 January, ENVI Members had an exchange of views with Emer Cooke, Executive Director of EMA, on the agency's activities, in particular on the follow-up of the vaccines authorisation process since December and on the Agency’s work in response to COVID-19 in general.
During the exchange of views, Members had the opportunity to quiz Ms Cooke on the latest developments on issue of vaccines, but also on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms on how it affected the role of the Agency. In its report on "Shortage of medicines: how to address an emerging problem" adopted in EP plenary in September 2020, Parliament had asked for a bigger role of the Agency, in order to allow the EU to be more prepared in the event of health crisis, and called for a new pharmaceutical strategy for Europe, including measures to prevent shortages. In this context, on 11 November 2020 the Commission had published a Regulation on a reinforced role for the European Medicines Agency in crisis preparedness and management for medicinal products and medical devices.