COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and recommendations for the future

Strasbourg, July 12, 2023 - Even though the WHO declared the end of the pandemic in May 2023, we are still dealing with its consequences. Some 36 million people suffer from long-term health problems after infection (COVID-longo), we are in the midst of a mental health epidemic (especially among young people), we are dealing with a severe shortage of health professionals, drug shortages, growing skepticism towards governments, the rise of conspiracy theories, and we come out of the pandemic with a clear amplification of existing social inequalities.


As the pandemic has unfolded, it has revealed some crucial vulnerabilities in our democratic, economic and social systems and highlighted the importance of good leadership and well-functioning universal health and social systems. While the main focus during the pandemic has been on responding to the health crisis and dealing with its immediate effects, the lessons we will collectively learn from this crisis are just as, if not more, important. Of course, this is of particular relevance to the younger generations. They will inherit the political and economic systems that are being reshaped in the reaction to the pandemic.

For our group, the biggest lesson to be learned is the large-scale realization that communicable diseases are triggered by the destruction of ecosystems. We are therefore pleased to see strong language with clear recommendations on recognizing and implementing the One Health approach and recommendations on preventing future pandemics (by improving environmental, human and animal health, but also by decreasing inequalities, such as access to healthcare). We are also pleased to see clear language to increase transparency and democratic oversight of pandemic countermeasures (both in the EU and in Member States), with clear recommendations to increase transparency in future joint procurement of medicines.


However, we regret the lack of a clear condemnation of the global disparities in access to vaccines and other medical countermeasures that we are witnessing.


I voted against because amendments to the final text made it unsatisfactory.

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