The NFDI4Health – Task Force COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 posed one of the greatest challenges to individuals and societies worldwide in recent decades. Public health research, epidemiological and clinical studies were essential to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2 responsible for the pandemic and its variants, to better understand the consequences for health and social life, and to identify effective treatment and vaccination methods. Such studies provided policy makers, industry, health care providers, and society with an empirical basis for containing and managing the pandemic and for making decisions that were based on the most recent data. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic excellently illustrates the relevance of data sharing and the importance of providing an effective infrastructure. From the researchers’ perspective, there were significant challenges associated with this request. In a very short time, numerous projects, studies, and networks had emerged to investigate the pandemic, making it increasingly difficult to maintain an overview. Such an overview would have been essential to coordinate research activities, avoid unplanned duplication of research, and to implement studies in a harmonized manner.