Politico just published a feature on the European Vaccines Hub — "Vaccine project can help Europe catch up."

As Europe pushes toward "Made in the EU" amid an increasingly restrictive U.S. approach, @Politico looks at how the European Vaccines Hub (EVH) — the European Commission-backed initiative that turned 1 this year — is working to close Europe's vaccine R&D gap.

A few highlights from the piece:
EVH is a pan-European partnership connecting research centers and institutes across Europe to develop vaccine prototypes for pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential, backed by a €169.9 million, four-year budget under EU4Health.

"We found that Europe is so rich in talent, rich in products, which we basically waste because we don't put them together," says Rino Rappuoli, scientific director at Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena and coordinator of the hub. The science is excellent, he notes — it's just rarely connected or translated into real products.

Rappuoli points to a deeper issue: Europe's lack of investment and "innovation culture" compared with the U.S. — less venture capital, a fragmented financial market, and little appetite for risk. Making EVH work, he argues, could be a cultural shift for Europe, not just a scientific one.

The full article can be accessed by registering for the restricted area of the Politico.eu website at this link: https://pro.politico.eu/news/223222