The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a plan to prepare the EU for the increased threat of coronavirus variants which includes speeding up the approval process for new and adapted vaccines and scaling up manufacturing capacities.

The plan is called the HERA Incubator. HERA stands for the planned European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority.

The HERA Incubator “will work with researchers, biotech companies, manufacturers and public authorities in the EU and globally to detect new variants, provide incentives to develop new and adapted vaccines, speed up the approval process for these vaccines, and ensure scaling up of manufacturing capacities,” the Commission said.

“To stay ahead of the curve, we are launching today the HERA Incubator. It brings together science, industry and public authorities, and pulls all available resources to enable us to respond to this challenge,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“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,” she said.

The plan envisages €75 million in EU funding to develop specialised tests for new variants and to support genomic sequencing in member states. The target is to reach 5% of genome sequencing of positive coronavirus tests.

To step up research and data exchange on variants will require €150 million in funding.

Another goal is to speed up regulatory approval of adapted vaccines based on the annual influenza vaccine model.