As the COVID-19 virus continues to prevail in Europe and at this stage it is not possible to determine the impact of a possible increase in infections in the second half of 2022 or the emergence of new variants, the European Commission has proposed to extend the Digital COVID Certificate until 30 June 2023. The […]
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EU proposes new rules for clinical trials
As of January 31, the evaluation and monitoring processes for clinical trials began to be harmonized throughout the EU, especially through the Clinical Trials Information System, managed by the European Medicines Agency. On this date, the Clinical Trials Regulation will enter into force, which will improve the way clinical trials are conducted in the EU, […]
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Antimicrobial resistance remains a health threat in Europe
The first Antimicrobial resistance surveillance in Europe report published jointly by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe on 26 January 2022, provides a pan-European overview of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) situation in the European region, featuring data from 2020. The report presents a regional and […]
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European Health Union: a stronger role for the European Medicines Agency
As part of the on-going work to build a strong European Health Union, the Council has adopted the Regulation revising the mandate of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), taking an important step towards EMA’s reinforcement in crisis preparedness and management for medicinal products and medical devices. The new rules will allow the Agency to closely […]
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Efficient tracing of Omicron with new PCR test
The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has developed a new detection method specific for the Omicron variant. The method has been successfully validated in silico, based on bioinformatics. The JRC now invites control laboratories worldwide to validate it in vivo on clinical samples. Following the recent emergence of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, Omicron, […]
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EU and US officials discuss efforts to donate and deliver 1.7 billion vaccine doses around the world
Senior European Commission officials met last week with senior White House and other U.S. government officials on progress and next steps towards achieving the US-EU Agenda for Beating the Global Pandemic Vaccinating the World, Saving Lives Now, and Building Back Better Health Security. Led by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s Head of Cabinet […]
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EU continues strong support to promote sustainable agri-food products in 2022
For 2022, a total of €185.9 million was allocated to the promotion of EU agri-food products in and outside the EU. Similarly to 2021, next year’s promotion policy work programme focuses on products and agricultural practices that support the European Green Deal objectives, such as EU organic products, fruit and vegetables, sustainable agriculture and animal welfare. Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said: “The […]
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Vaccination evolution and hospitalizations in Europe – November
This news item shows the evolution of vaccination against COVID-19 in Europe during November. The data for this article were obtained from Our World in Data. During the month of November a total of 25,442,274 citizens received the full course of COVID-19, which meant that by the end of this month a total of 505,749,276 […]
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EU-UK relations: Commission guarantees continued supply of medicines to Northern Ireland
The Commission has put forward proposals to ensure the continued long-term supply of medicines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and to address outstanding supply concerns in Cyprus, Ireland and Malta. In the context of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, this means that the same medicines will continue to be available in Northern Ireland at […]
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