This project is part of an EU-funded consortium called END-VOC (ENDing COVid-19 variants of concern through Cohort studies), comprising 19 partners worldwide working with large cohort studies to monitor the global development of COVID-19. The European Commission has funded the END-VOC consortium, coordinated by the University College London, with a research grant of almost 10 million euros. 

Dr. Anniek de Ruijter, Director of the Law Centre for Health and Life, explains: “The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred an unprecedented volume of scientific and medical research networks, many of which participate in the END-VOC project. In this project, we will connect and coordinate the research findings of these and other networks and link up with the global regulatory and societal responses. With this research we really hope to be better prepared for the next pandemic that will come our way.”

Dr. Katrina Perehudoff, Co-Director of the Law Centre for Health and Life, adds: “We can’t forget that how regulators communicate about the benefits, risks, and effectiveness of new vaccines shape the public’s acceptance of these vaccines, especially as new variants emerge. On top of this, regulatory approaches are different in every corner of the world."

This work package will be coordinated by dr. de Ruijter and dr. Elize Massard da Fonseca (São Paulo School of Business Administration).

The END-VOC project is a direct fruit of the UvA's Research Priority Area on Global Health & Development, working in collaboration with members of the European Global Health Research Network - a group of research centres of excellence in global health.

END-VOC: 19 partners, 28 cohorts in 23 countries, 5 key areas

The END-VOC consortium consists of 19 partners with cohorts in Europe (UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland), South America (Brazil and Peru), Africa (Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria and 13 countries in the ANTICOV trial), Middle East (Palestine) and Asia (India, Pakistan, Philippines). By using data from 28 well-established cohorts in these countries, the three-year project will focus on five key areas: i) detect and characterise emerging viral variants; evaluate their capacity to ii) evade vaccine-induced immunity or cause reinfections, iii) escape current treatments, iv) cause Long Covid; as well as v) provide recommendations to better prepare and respond to future infectious disease outbreaks.

END-VOC Consortium members

University College London, United Kingdom (Lead)

Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Italy

Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Italy

Universitatsklinikum Heidelberg, Germany

Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona, Spain

Institut Universitari per la Recerca a l'Atencio Primaria de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina, Spain

Folkehelseinstituttet (Norwegian Institute of Public Health), Norway

Stichting Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (including UvA Law Centre for Health and Life), The Netherlands

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

Universite de Geneve, Switzerland

Public Health Foundation of India

Fundaçao Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil

Laboratoire National De Santé, Luxembourg

Arab American University Palestine

Institut D’investigació En Ciencias De La Salut Germans Trias I Pujol, Spain

Dopasi Foundation, Pakistan

University of The Philippines

Centro de Investigaçao em Sañude de Manhiça, Mozambique

Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, Switzerland