Introduction

Introduction by the Director

I would like to start by thanking colleagues in Member States for their contributions and openness in the dialogue, all the colleagues and partners in the EU and beyond for their collaboration during the year, and all ECDC staff for their stamina and dedication.

The year 2022 was still very much influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the COVID-19 PHE was gradually de-escalated, and it has been at Level-1 (Maintenance phase) since 9 June 2022, even though ECDC’s workload related to the COVID-19 pandemic still remained high throughout the year.

This Consolidated Annual Activity Report describes very well the work conducted by ECDC in 2022; operating three PHEs simultaneously, and initiating several lessons-learned exercises with Member States and other partners. What is not included in this report is all the work we carried out internally in preparation for the implementation of the reinforced ECDC mandate. We also initiated discussions on some of these elements (e.g. European Health Task Force (EUHTF), preparedness, and surveillance with CCB directors and national coordinators), as well as with the Management Board. In 2022, we also conducted a comprehensive stakeholder engagement survey to gather information on the satisfaction of our stakeholders with our work, as well as on the use and impact of our selected outputs. The replies provided us with useful information for our future work.

I have indicated that in order to be successful in the implementation of ECDC’s reinforced mandate we have to change the way we work and interact with the Member States. I believe that we have already learned lessons from the work we began in 2021 and continued in 2022 with the 11 Member States to increase the [COVID-19] vaccination uptake. I had regular meetings with the Coordinating Competent Body (CCB) directors, national coordinators, and national focal points for vaccine-preventable diseases and immunisation (VPI), and we organised virtual exchanges of information, webinars with the practitioners and experts, and a pilot training course on increasing vaccination acceptance for frontline healthcare workers.

We used the same principles with the five Member States bordering Ukraine which received the largest influx of refugees fleeing at the start of the Russian aggression. I met regularly with the CCB directors and national coordinators from the five Member States, as well as those from all EU/EEA countries to monitor the situation and adjust ECDC support, as required. I personally felt that this way of working helped us to understand the real needs of the countries and enabled us to tailor our support accordingly. I strongly believe that this kind of dialogue with countries will be the best way forward, as our amended Founding Regulation puts much more emphasis on handson support, based on profound country knowledge.

In this context, there is an increased need to exchange information and knowledge between ECDC, Member States, and other partners, as well as to facilitate exchanges between the Member States. There are new technologies and methods (e.g. artificial intelligence, machine learning, and new analytic methods/modelling) which, to date, we have little experience of, and therefore bringing all the existing knowledge together (e.g. by establishing communities of practice) would help to enhance our collective thinking on how and whether to use these technologies for public health.

The last point I would like to make is the one we all experienced last year – how to make the transition from working at home in a virtual environment back to the office. This has not necessarily been easy, either at personal or an organisational level. However, I trust that the value of human interaction has become evident. This transformation was also tangible when moving from fully virtual to hybrid or face-to-face only meetings. We discussed the need for different types of meetings with our governing/advisory bodies and learned that in-depth discussions need presence, and therefore we are now advocating face-to-face meetings to continue the dialogue on our joint task of implementing ECDC’s new mandate.

Andrea Ammon
ECDC Director
8 March 2023