Subject: Follow up: To NFPs for action: Invitation to participate in technical meeting – Public health laboratory preparedness for respiratory infections (ECDC)
From: "ECDC respiratory viruses" <[email-masked]>
To: "Indra Alexander" <[email-masked]>, "Apfalter Petra" <[email-masked]>, "Wesley.Mattheus" <[email-masked]>, "steven.vangucht" <[email-masked]>, "ivanoov" <[email-masked]>, "stefka.krumova" <[email-masked]>, "ljiljana.zmak" <[email-masked]>, "selma.bosnjak" <[email-masked]>,Ivana Ferenčak <[email-masked]>, "m.mendris" <[email-masked]>, "Fani Theophanous" <[email-masked]>, "dpieridou" <[email-masked]>, "ckaragiannis" <[email-masked]>,Barbora Macková <
Cc: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, "Country Cooperation" <[email-masked]>, "Cyril Barbezange" <[email-masked]>, "Eeva Broberg" <[email-masked]>,Andrej Jašica <[email-masked]>, "Di Martino Angela" <[email-masked]>, "Antigoni Katsoulidou" <[email-masked]>,Bernadett Pályi <[email-masked]>, "Benka Bernhard" <[email-masked]>, "bruno.lina" <[email-masked]>, "charlene Bennett" <[email-masked]>, "christian.drosten" <
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:27:40 +0200

Tähelepanu! Tegemist on väljastpoolt asutust saabunud kirjaga. Tundmatu 
saatja korral palume linke ja faile mitte avada.

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for those that have signed up to the meeting – registration is now 
closed.

A consultation link is available for those who could not attend. This is to 
supplement the information that will be collected during the technical 
meeting.

The consultation will be open until 1 week after the meeting.

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/RAND_Europe_ECDC_consultation/ 
<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=31323334-501d5122-31321d63-454445555731-ba43b88efcc99326&q=1&e=404e36c8-311d-4832-9389-2892b8c3e82b&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartsurvey.co.uk%2Fs%2FRAND_Europe_ECDC_consultation%2F>

Thank you very much for your participation.

Best wishes,

The ECDC Respiratory viruses and Legionella group

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)Gustav III:s boulevard 40, 169 73 Solna, Sweden

Phone +46 (0)8 58 60 10 00

 <https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/> www.ecdc.europa.eu

Follow ECDC on:

 <http://www.facebook.com/ECDC.EU>

 <https://bsky.app/profile/ecdc.europa.eu>

 <http://www.linkedin.com/company/ecdc>

 <http://www.youtube.com/user/ECDCchannel>

 <https://www.instagram.com/ecdc.eu>

 <https://www.threads.net/@ecdc.eu>

Classified as ECDC NORMAL 

From: ECDC respiratory viruses <[email-masked]>
Sent: 07 February 2025 17:32
Subject: To NFPs for action: Invitation to participate in technical 
meeting – Public health laboratory preparedness for respiratory infections 
(ECDC)

To:        National Focal Points for Viral Respiratory Diseases, National 
Focal Points for Microbiology

Cc:       National Coordinators, Operational Contact Points for COVID-19 and 
influenza (Microbiology)

Dear colleagues,

We are reaching out regarding a study that RAND Europe is conducting on the 
preparedness of public health laboratories for respiratory infectious 
diseases, commissioned and funded by the European Centre for Disease 
Prevention and Control (ECDC). We are now organising a technical meeting 
related to that study together with RAND Europe. This study is looking at 
challenges public health laboratories faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, 
how they were resolved, how to sustain advances made during the pandemic, 
and ways to improve long-term preparedness in public health laboratories for 
future respiratory infections.

As part of this study, RAND Europe and ECDC will be conducting a technical 
meeting on Tuesday 18th of March from 10am-3pm CET (9am -2pm GMT). This 
technical meeting is organised to gather further insights from the countries 
on laboratory preparedness following the survey and interviews that were 
conducted in December 2024. During the meeting participants will learn about 
initial findings from this study, based on a literature review and data 
collection from public health contact points across EU/EEA countries. 
Participants will be asked to reflect on findings, provide feedback, and 
discuss views with facilitators and other participants. Topics of discussion 
will include the effectiveness of different solutions implemented during the 
pandemic, strategies to sustain advances and measures improve preparedness 
in public health laboratories.

Two representants per EU/EEA Member State are being invited to partake in 
the meeting alongside wider public health stakeholders (e.g. from the 
European Commission, ECDC). The participants could be the people who 
answered the survey or who were interviewed, or other people among the 
official contact points (NFPs, NMFP, OCPs). We would be grateful if, as NFP 
or NMFP, you could evaluate who, among yourselves and the Operational 
Contact Points for COVID-19 and influenza (Microbiology), would be best 
suited to represent your country and to contribute to the discussions during 
this meeting. The meeting will take approximately 5 hours, including a 
1-hour lunch break. Due to the limited number of participants we can 
accommodate, we kindly request that you discuss the topic with colleagues as 
needed in order to be able to participate in conversation during the day of 
the event.

More information about the content of the meeting can be find in in the 
attached Participant Information Sheet. The preliminary agenda is also 
available for your information at the end of this email. If you have any 
questions about the meeting or the study, please contact the ECDC or RAND 
Europe teams.

We are thanking you in advance for taking the time to consider this request. 
The nominations should be sent to ECDC at [email-masked] 
<mailto:[email-masked]>  and cc to RAND Europe (Saoirse 
Moriarty at [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> ; 
Katie Sykes at [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]> ) by 17 
February 2025.

Best regards,

The ECDC Respiratory Viruses and Legionella team

and Sarah Parkinson on behalf of RAND Europe

--

Preliminary Agenda of the 18th March’s technical meeting:

Time (CET)

Agenda item

10-10:15

Welcome and introductions

10:15-10:45

Preliminary findings

10:45-11:10

Plenary 1 – Reflections on findings

11:10-12:00

Breakout 1 – Challenges and solutions

12:00-1:00

Lunch break

1:00-2:00

Breakout 2 – Sustaining advances and improving preparedness

2:00-2:10

Plenary 2 - Feedback from breakout rooms

2:10-2:50

Plenary 3 - Prioritisation of lessons from COVID-19

2:50-3:00

Next steps and close

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)Gustav III:s boulevard 40, 169 73 Solna, Sweden

Phone +46 (0)8 58 60 10 00

 <https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/> www.ecdc.europa.eu

Follow ECDC on:

 <http://www.facebook.com/ECDC.EU>

 <https://bsky.app/profile/ecdc.europa.eu>

 <http://www.linkedin.com/company/ecdc>

 <http://www.youtube.com/user/ECDCchannel>

 <https://www.instagram.com/ecdc.eu>

 <https://www.threads.net/@ecdc.eu>

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