Call for proposals on the European Hub for vaccine development (HERA) - CP-g-24-10

This action is expected:

a) to contribute to better preparedness and early response to health emergencies;

b) to increase the availability and uptake of public health-relevant vaccines and antibodies;

c) to contribute to the availability of preventive measures to slow the spread of selected pathogens;

d) to reduce strategic dependencies, and expand Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy.

This action supports the policy priority to enhance crisis preparedness and response for future health emergencies in relation to medical countermeasures, with a focus on priority pathogens with pandemic potential. It implements the EU4Health Programme’s general objective of improving the availability, accessibility and affordability of crisis-relevant products (Article 3, point (c)) through the specific objectives defined in Article 4, points (b) and (c), of Regulation (EU) 2021/522.

This action aims to create a European Hub for public health-relevant vaccine development, combining excellence in vaccine development with clinical trials and activities for scaling manufacturing. This call targets consortia of developers of vaccines covering expertise in development including publicly funded and industrial organisations.

The Hub will develop a strategic vaccine plan for Europe, and subsequently deliver on creating vaccine prototypes in particular for priority pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential, further developing of state-of-the-art technologies that can be rapidly adapted, preparing relevant master clinical trial protocols, combining its activities to reach out to clinical trial capacities/networks and at scale production initiatives at national and European levels. The Hub should establish connections with private manufacturers including through specific manufacturing agreements such as EUFAB or comparable national models.