Press Release: Preparing for pandemic influenza and other health threats: Commission adopts EU plans

The European Commission on 29 November 2005 adopted two plans to help prepare the EU and its Member States to deal with major cross-border health emergencies (such as SARS and bioterrorism) and a possible influenza pandemic. The first was a Communication to strengthen Europe’s preparedness to respond in a co-ordinated way to generic public health emergencies, such as the SARS outbreak and the anthrax attacks in the United States. The second Communication on pandemic influenza preparedness applied the approach set out in the generic Communication and updated the Commission’s existing plan of March 2004.

• Primary Source

European Commission: COM(2005) 605, Communication [...] on strengthening coordination on generic preparedness planning for public health emergencies at EU level, 28.11.05 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_0605en01.pdf

European Commission: COm(2005) 607, Commuication [...] on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Planning in the European Community http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_0607en01.pdf

European Commission: Memo: MEMO/05/450, Preparing for influenza and major health threats, 29.11.05 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05/450&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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