The European Union (EU) has set up an incubator to help prepare member states against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19. Covid-19 variants have been emerging across the world, including B117 in the UK and B1351 in South Africa.

The European Health Emergency Preparedness Response Authority (HERA) incubator has been established by the European Commission (EC). It will focus on identifying and detecting new Covid-19 variants as they emerge, as well as researching and developing new and updated vaccines that can protect against these variants.

There have been concerns that the approved vaccines, and particularly the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford candidate, may be ineffective against emerging variants, meaning new and updated vaccines will be needed to tackle the ongoing threat of Covid-19. Approved vaccine manufacturers, as well as smaller companies, have committed themselves to developing vaccines that are effective against Covid-19 variants as they emerge.

The development of new vaccines will further be supported by research funding and a new Covid-19 clinical trial network across 16 EU member states and five associated countries, including Switzerland and Israel.

EC president Ursula von der Leyen said: “Our priority is to ensure that all Europeans have access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines as soon as possible.

“At the same time, new variants of the virus are emerging fast and we must adapt our response even faster. To stay ahead of the curve, we are launching the HERA Incubator.

“It brings together science, industry and public authorities, and pulls all available resources to enable us to respond to this challenge.”