As the final in a series of three roadmap events leading to a high-level conference on apprenticeships, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Commission's European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) organised on 23 March an online event in close cooperation with the European Association of Regional and Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning (EARLALL), the German delegation at the CoR, and the Basque Government. The live-streamed discussion explored local and regional initiatives for training, upskilling and reskilling health workers, taking into account the future skill needs of the sector.

EU local and regional governments have warned of the catastrophic impact not opening borders by the summer would have on regional economies. During a debate with the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides , members of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) said that the EU and its member states have made efforts to roll out vaccines, avoiding a national vaccine war, but the absence of a clear legal EU framework had led to errors that must be avoided in the future. They offered support to tackle mistrust of vaccines, to speed up the administering of vaccines, adding that vaccine certificates are a step in the right direction but should not be considered a "silver bullet".

The European Committee of the Regions' Commission for Natural Resources (NAT) met on 29 January, for the first time in 2021, to discuss about health and the experiences and lessons learned by regions and cities during the COVID-19 crisis. At the meeting, members also adopted an opinion on the Atlantic maritime strategy.

National governments should agree to a larger package of financial support for health systems in the European Union, the European Committee of the Regions said on 14 October. The call is contained in a set of three recommendations in which the EU's regions and cities set out ways of filling gaps in local health-care systems revealed by the coronavirus pandemic.​