Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority

Responsibilities

The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority’s (HERA) mission is to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to health emergencies.

HERA was established in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to anticipate threats and potential health crises, through intelligence-gathering and building the necessary response capacities.

In the event of an emergency, HERA will oversee the development, production and distribution of medicines, vaccines and other medical countermeasures (MCMs) – such as gloves and masks – that were frequently in short supply during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

HERA was launched as a new European Commission Directorate-General on 16 September 2021, and carries out the Commission’s policies related to health preparedness and crisis response and ensuring the resilience of healthcare systems across Europe. 

Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority website

As part of the Commission's commitment to transparency, Commission staff holding management functions publish information on and minutes of all meetings they hold with interest representatives.