News item | 14-04-2022 | 15:15
On the proposal of Minister Kuipers of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Council of Ministers has approved an approach to prepare the Netherlands for a future pandemic. The government is committed to decisiveness and agility, among other things by ensuring that healthcare can be scaled up flexibly and quickly. In the coming years, an annual amount of up to €300 million is available for this plan. The pandemic preparedness policy agenda has been sent to the House of Representatives.
Minister Kuipers: “In the case of an outbreak of a new infectious disease, it is basically about being agile. That we have a strong healthcare foundation, that we have the right people in the right place, and that everyone knows what to do. I am now setting out the guidelines for that, and we will continue to work hard on that in the coming months.”
It is real that there will be another pandemic, we just don’t know when and how big the impact will be. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that we need to be better prepared for this. That we must have better visibility and insight in order to be able to steer in a timely manner. So that the burden of disease and mortality is limited as much as possible and society is disrupted as little as possible. The pandemic preparedness policy agenda kicks off a process to permanently raise the Dutch preparedness level to a higher level.
Strengthening care and infectious disease control
There will be a series of measures to be better prepared for the next pandemic. This varies from good monitoring and surveillance to good information provision and making clear agreements between the parties involved in the crisis response. The base at the GGDs is being strengthened and a national crisis organization is being worked on. Flexible and rapid scaling up of care capacity is also an important part of the plans. In long-term care, actions are taken to improve hygiene and infection prevention.
Medical products
The approach to pandemic preparedness also focuses on the security of supply of medical products, including medicines, vaccines and aids and protective equipment. The aim is to reduce vulnerabilities in the production and supply chain. Having multiple providers is important here. That is why, in a European context, the Netherlands is making every effort to stimulate sustainable (scalable) production close to home, and the government is investing in strategic international cooperation.
Elaboration
The policy agenda is the starting point and will be further elaborated in the coming months with the parties involved, both nationally and internationally. The next concrete steps are a decision on the structure for scaling up for infectious disease control, and a zoonoses action plan. And even after that, there is still plenty of work to be done, because pandemic preparedness is never ‘finished’. New developments, new information and new insights gradually lead to new considerations. The cabinet and all partners involved in the fight against the pandemic must be able to anticipate many scenarios. Only in this way can the Netherlands become truly pandemic prepared.