The WHO Regional Director for Europe appointed the TAG members following an open call for experts and a selection process, based on set criteria that sought to ensure not only the suitability of the candidates’ skills and professional profile, but also the distribution of candidates by gender and geographic representation. As a result, the Preparedness 2.0 TAG represents a broad range of disciplines relevant to Preparedness 2.0, including the following areas:

• epidemiology and surveillance;
• public health microbiology and laboratory systems;
• animal health and zoonotic diseases;
• environmental health;
• risk communication, community engagement and infodemic management;
• clinical management;
• infection prevention and control;
• health systems and programme delivery;
• medical countermeasures, procurement, stockpiling and logistics;
• emergency medicine and access and use of controlled medicines in humanitarian settings;
• public health emergency partnerships;
• public health programme monitoring and evaluation;
• health, policy, economics and planning; and
• ethics, equity, human rights and gender in public health.

The Preparedness 2.0 TAG has the following functions:

1.  to provide insight into lessons and recommendations from review processes and experience-sharing of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent and ongoing health emergencies, within and beyond the WHO European Region, including the incorporation of the 10 lessons learned from the pandemic outlined in the working document submitted to RC71 entitled “Response to the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned to date from the WHO European Region”, the WHO/Europe COVID-19 Transition Plan; and the recommendations of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, which will include the operationalization of a Pan-European Network for Disease Control;
2. to advise on lessons learned from the previous Action plan to improve public health preparedness and response in the WHO European Region 2018–2023 and its implementation as described in the midterm progress report; and
3. to advise WHO on aligning developments at global and regional level, including the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body currently drafting the new pandemic accord, the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005), and WHO Director-General’s 10 proposals to build a safer world together and its accompanying framework – Strengthening the Global Architecture for Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience.