[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7332\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ELack of solidarity hampered Europe\u2019s coronavirus response, research finds \u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGreater sharing of resources, hospital capacity and even healthcare staff are needed to cope with pandemics in the future, according to researchers examining the public health response to coronavirus across the European Union.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey have found that the level of preparedness was patchy across Europe, despite warnings for years, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1118673\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eif not decades\u003C\/a\u003E, from health experts that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.who.int\/bulletin\/volumes\/96\/2\/17-199588\/en\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ea global pandemic was likely\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile some countries had built up pandemic preparedness stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE), medicines such as anti-virals and other vital equipment, others had very little.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Countries that had those preparedness stocks, had trained nurses and doctors for how to respond to all kinds of different pandemics \u2013 they fared better,\u2019 said Professor Gy\u00f6ngyi Kov\u00e1cs, an expert in humanitarian logistics and supply chain management at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. \u2018They bought themselves a lot of breathing time early in the first wave.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis extra time allowed countries such as \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/09\/04\/covid-19-what-can-we-learn-from-finlands-experience-of-the-pandemic\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EFinland\u003C\/a\u003E and Germany to procure additional PPE supplies, for example. It also allowed them to put other measures such as Covid-19 testing and contact tracing in place more quickly, which have been crucial in helping to control the spread of the virus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Kov\u00e1cs is the coordinator of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/101003606\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EHERoS project\u003C\/a\u003E, which has been assessing the early response to the Covid-19 crisis in Europe and making recommendations that could improve the way future pandemics are tackled. At the end of October, participants in the project \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.heros-project.eu\/webinar-recording-and-presentations\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Epresented their initial findings\u003C\/a\u003E during an online event.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThrough a series of surveys, interviews, questionnaires with those involved in responding to the pandemic, together with analysis of what happened in the first couple of months, the researchers have built up a picture of where what worked and what did not in different countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey found that in many countries, healthcare professionals were initially overwhelmed in the early days of the first Covid-19 wave as crisis management plans were not detailed enough. Medical staff were also forced to work long hours to cope. Italy in particular suffered shortages of PPE and ventilators quite early on, while Sweden saw shortages of drugs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There wasn\u2019t maybe a coordinated effort of preparedness,\u2019 said Prof. Kov\u00e1cs. \u2018Even \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/echo\/what\/civil-protection\/resceu_en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ethe EU\u2019s own initiatives\u003C\/a\u003E came a bit late into the game.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough Covid-19 was entirely new, which meant understanding how it spread and the role of asymptomatic cases was difficult in the early days, there were still steps that could have been taken to help improve the response in Europe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Our results showed that one of the problems in northern Italy, for example, was that even though there were enough intensive care unit (ICU) beds across the country \u2013 and even in the region if they were able to cross a border (into another country) \u2013 that capacity was not used,\u2019 said Prof. Kov\u00e1cs. \u2018Nor was there the flexibility to onboard new people to work in ICUs even though they had plenty of volunteers.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Medical supplies are often moved as belly cargo in passenger planes. When these were grounded, nothing moved and it was a big disrupting factor.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Gy\u00f6ngyi Kov\u00e1cs, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland \u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERecommendations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmong the recommendations from HERoS is that there is greater sharing of resources like hospital capacity, medical equipment and even healthcare staff between EU countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We are starting to see more of this now,\u2019 said Prof. Kov\u00e1cs. In March, Germany took small numbers of patients from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/uk-health-coronavirus-germany-italy\/germany-takes-in-47-coronavirus-patients-from-italy-idUKKBN21D3AJ\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EItaly\u003C\/a\u003E but has since extended this to other over-stretched European countries. Last month the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-health-coronavirus-netherlands-tally\/dutch-transfer-patients-to-germany-again-as-covid-infections-spike-idUSKBN2781OI\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ENetherlands\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-health-coronavirus-belgium-helicopter-idUSKBN27J1MQ\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EBelgium also began airlifting patients to Germany\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut this European solidarity was less obvious in other areas early in the crisis, with some countries competing against each other for PPE, while others placed restrictions on what medical supplies could be exported to neighbouring states, says Prof. Kov\u00e1cs. Germany, for example, was \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2020-03-09\/germany-faces-backlash-from-neighbors-over-mask-export-ban\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eaccused of withholding vital protective equipment\u003C\/a\u003E from Austria and Switzerland, while \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.bakermckenzie.com\/en\/insight\/publications\/2020\/03\/new-eu-national-export-controls-medical-equipment\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EPoland also put strict restrictions\u003C\/a\u003E on what medical equipment could leave its borders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It was all quite counterproductive,\u2019 added Prof. Kov\u00e1cs.\u0026nbsp;The importance of PPE had become clear during the 2014-16 Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, she said, but only those countries that had sent teams in to the country to help had \u2018prepared a little bit\u2019. Across the EU more generally there had been little increase in preparedness for increased demand in PPE, including an increase in domestic production. \u2018Medical supply chains are actually global \u2013 most of the drugs and PPE are manufactured in India and China.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis global interdependency for medical items also meant countries struggled to import equipment and medicines even when they managed to procure some.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018One issue that really shocked us more than expected was the transportation problems,\u2019 said Prof. Kov\u00e1cs. \u2018Medical supplies are often moved as belly cargo in passenger planes. When these were grounded, nothing moved and it was a big disrupting factor. Prices of getting cargo onto planes rocketed.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe warned that unless lessons are learned from what happened in the early days of the pandemic, they could also be repeated if there is a scramble to get vaccines once one is available.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We found that once one bottleneck was removed, there was another shortage of something else \u2013 once countries had enough swabs for tests, there weren\u2019t enough reagents in the labs for example,\u2019 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe adds that such problems could be overcome by learning from the international aid sector. \u2018Humanitarian organisations and the World Health Organization overcome this by using interagency health kits. For a vaccine it would contain everything someone would need to administer it \u2013 the syringe, gloves, cotton wool. It is all in one package.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe findings echo some of the recommendations from EU scientific advisors in a report published on 11 November setting out how to better prepare for and manage pandemics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018None of us has been confronted with a problem this size,\u2019 said Professor Peter Piot, the special advisor on coronavirus to the European Commission\u2019s president who contributed to the report, along with the European Commission\u2019s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027The lessons learned from the present pandemic will help us to move from an ad-hoc approach to health crises to a better coordinated and more efficient response \u2013 crucial in the early phase of an outbreak.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImproved plans for repurposing laboratories, logistics chains and other facilities to respond to a pandemic need to be put in place, the report concludes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe report also recommends enhanced coordination across EU member states through the establishment of an advisory body to provide consistent, evidence-based advice on responding to disease outbreaks. It says that more should be done to ensure people with existing diseases and older people are not left abandoned as resources shift to dealing with a pandemic. Wider measures such as building new air filtration and disinfection systems into public buildings to reduce the risk of infection while indoors are also recommended.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMisinformation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe authors also highlight the importance of having clear systems of communication to tackle the spread of false or misleading information \u2013 known as misinformation, or disinformation when it is spread deliberately \u2013 during crises.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn an attempt to tackle misinformation in the current pandemic, HERoS is preparing to launch a \u2018fact checking observatory\u2019 that will allow people to check the accuracy of information for themselves.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther wider societal steps are set out in the expert report\u2019s list of recommendations, such as ensuring that emergency financial aid schemes are in place to help those unable to work or who lose their jobs as a result of future pandemics, and ensuring education be continued.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Those who are already disadvantaged often suffer most,\u2019 said Professor Christiane Woopen, a medical ethicist at the University of Cologne, Germany, and chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies. \u2018That\u0027s why we address the links between health crisis, poverty and structural inequalities. A solidaristic and sustainable governance approach is at the core of resilience, not least because it fosters trust in governance structures.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe expert report also supports the proposal \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/ireland\/news\/state-of-the-union-2020_en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eput forward by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in her 2020 State of the Union speech\u003C\/a\u003E to establish an agency to coordinate EU-level preparations for future pandemics by strengthening the development, authorisation, manufacture and stockpiling of medicines and equipment. The organisation is to be modelled on the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA) in the US, which is responsible for procuring and developing the drugs and equipment needed to respond to chemical and biological threats.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Only if we join forces at European and international level \u2013 and follow the guidance of sound, multidisciplinary scientific advice and the long-standing European values of openness, cooperation and solidarity \u2013 we can recover from this pandemic and ensure we will be prepared for the future,\u2019 added Prof. Piot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the EU. 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