Innovation for Pandemics

Abstract

The world took a step to begin addressing this risk with the launch in 2017 of a public–private partnership called the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). With funding com- mitments of more than $630 million, CEPI’s first order of business is advancing the development of vaccines for three of the priority diseases on the World Health Organization (WHO) list for public health research and development: Lassa fever, Nipah virus, and MERS. CEPI will also be working on rapid-response platforms to produce safe, effective vaccines for a range of infectious diseases. Later this year, the coalition will announce grants to several companies, working with a variety of technologies, including nucleic acid vaccines, viral vectors, and other innovative approaches. The goal is the capability to develop, test, and release new vaccines in a matter of months rather than years.