In the last week there has been lots of encouraging news focused on potential COVID-19 vaccines. For expert reaction to these announcements and to put the reports into context, we spoke to Prof. Anita Simonds, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) President.

 Read the news summary and ERS leadership response

Registration is now open for next year’s ERS Satellites event, taking place virtually on 2 March, 2021. Chaired by Profs Daiana Stolz, Chris Brightling and Richard Costello, the comprehensive programme will cover asthma, COPD, ILD and chronic cough, and live-streaming technology will allow virtual delegates to ask questions and discuss presentations with speakers and chairs. This high-quality educational event can be accessed free of charge by healthcare professionals from anywhere in the world.

 Learn more and register for free 




 

The European Lung Foundation (ELF) and COPD Foundation have launched a survey that aims to find out how people with COPD feel about the words used to describe their condition by health professionals. The survey is available in 20 languages and has been developed by a group of patient advocates and healthcare professionals from ELF, the Lancet Commission on COPD and the COPD Foundation. The anonymous patient feedback from the survey will be published in 2021 in The Lancet. ERS asks health professionals who care for people with COPD to share the survey with their patients.

 Access and share the survey with your patients

ERS invites all interested members and colleagues to take part in the free upcoming MEP lung health group event, ‘Air pollution and COVID-19 – Clearing the air and charting a post-pandemic course’. The meeting is organised jointly by ERS, the Health Effects Institute and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology and will take place virtually on 2 December, 2020 from 16:00–17:30 CET. Several guest speakers with expertise in epidemiology, environment and public health will present and take part in a virtual roundtable during the event.

 Learn more and register for free

The minutes of the 2020 ERS General Assembly meeting are now available to view online. The General Assembly is the body responsible for adapting the statutes of the society, deciding the annual membership fees, reviewing proposed amendments to the ERS Constitution and By-Laws and checking and approving the accounts.

 Catch up on the meeting and access the minutes





 

An upcoming live webinar will summarise current knowledge of the pulmonary vascular complications caused by COVID-19 and its consequences in patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension. Chaired by ERS President Prof. Anita Simonds and ERS President Elect Prof. Marc Humbert, the webinar will take place on 7 December and consist of three lectures followed by a short discussion on each.

 Learn more and register for free

A recording of a recent joint webinar between ERS and the American Thoracic Society (ATS) is now available to view online. The webinar, which was chaired by ERS Past President Prof. Thierry Troosters and Chair of the ATS Pulmonary Rehabilitation Assembly Prof. Anne Holland, discusses the findings of an international task force studying rehabilitation after COVID-19.

 Watch the webinar

Abstracts from this year’s ERS Congress are now available online as a supplement to the European Respiratory Journal. All abstracts are free to access and can be cited as references in publications, with the option of browsing by topic area or professional speciality.

 Access the ERS Congress abstracts





 

The ERS Bookshop has now reopened to customers worldwide and is stocked with the full range of ERS books, including the latest ERS Monographs and Handbooks. Most ERS books include a unique code that also allows you to download a copy of the ebook, and if you order five or more books, shipping is free! Shipping times may be a few days longer than usual due to intermittent disruption. The latest information about ERS books and shipping can be found at ersbookshop.com.

 Visit the ERS Bookshop

An upcoming webinar will focus on the WHO End TB Strategy and the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection through routine tests as well as newly approved or still experimental tests. Chaired by Prof. Raquel Duarte and featuring guest speaker Dr Delia Goletti, the webinar will take place on 12 January, 2020 and consist of a lecture followed by case presentations.

 Learn more and register for free

Did you know that recordings of live ERS webinars are added to ERS’s e-learning website? Catch up now on some of the latest webinars, which cover inhaled antimicrobials, models and tools for COVID-19 research, sleep breathing disorders in the era of COVID-19 and lots more.

 Access all ERS webinar recordings