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The European Commission launched an initiative to deal with the ongoing supply crisis on Tuesday (24 October). The following announcement comes after the shortage of key antibiotics last winter identified by the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The "European Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism" is a proposed short-term measure that involves a Member State's need for a given medicine to other Member States to redistribute medicines from their available stock. Additionally, the Commission intends to cooperate with member states to improve components of pharmaceutical reform with an aim to strengthen supply security. They are setting up a few actions apart from the launch, a list of critical medicines to analyse the supply chain by early 2024; regulatory flexibilities; strengthening security of supply; and availability of antibiotics and treatments for respiratory viruses by next winter.

Community pharmacies must be involved in future planning for public health emergencies, especially in cases where a quick response is needed such as the Covid-19 pandemic, a European-wide research has recommended. The project, co-led by the University of Huddersfield professor Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar in medicines and healthcare, focuses on how community pharmacies dealt with the pandemic, covering 31 pharmacy interventions on Covid-19 in 32 countries in Europe. The interventions include prevention, response, and recovery measures. It also covers improved access to medicines, expanded powers granted to pharmacies, rapid antigen testing, along with Covid-19 vaccination. Community pharmacists in the US, Canada, and Australia have been engaged in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response strategic guidance after the 2009 flu pandemic. The aim of the research is to map the current reported practice and trends and review the pharmacies' intervention in Europe.