CEPI Unveils Five-Year Strategy to Strengthen Global Pandemic Preparedness, Seeks $2.5bn Investment

Sunday Ehigiator

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has launched a new five-year strategy aimed at bolstering global preparedness against future epidemic and pandemic threats. It called on governments and partners to commit $2.5 billion to fund the initiative.

The plan, tagged CEPI 3.0 and unveiled in Oslo, is designed to transform the global response to deadly disease outbreaks, which health experts say are becoming more frequent and disruptive.

Chief Executive Officer of CEPI, Dr. Richard Hatchett, said the strategy drew lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and emerging viral outbreaks, such as Nipah, Ebola, Chikungunya, and Marburg.

Hatchett said, “During COVID-19, the world paid the price of not being prepared.”

He explained, “Recent outbreaks of Nipah, Ebola, Chikungunya and Marburg are powerful reminders that epidemic and pandemic disease present one of the greatest challenges of our time. Science offers us a solution: by taking decisive action now we can secure a safer future for all.”

Research cited by CEPI indicates that the risk of another pandemic comparable to COVID-19 remains significant, with potential global losses from future pandemics estimated at more than $700 billion annually.

The new strategy, scheduled to begin in 2027, will maintain CEPI’s focus on equitable access to vaccines and leverage new scientific advances to reduce the impact and cost of disease outbreaks.

Central to the plan is the organisation’s “100 Days Mission,” which aims to develop safe, effective and accessible vaccines against new pandemic threats within 100 days of identification.

Modelling estimates suggested that if vaccines had been developed within 100 days of the COVID-19 outbreak, more than eight million lives could have been saved and trillions of dollars in economic losses prevented.

CEPI 3.0 will focus on three major priorities. The first involves developing vaccines against both known and emerging epidemic threats, including Lassa fever, Nipah virus and Rift Valley fever, while generating scientific tools and data across viral families identified by the World Health Organisation as potential pandemic threats.

The second priority aims to advance rapid-response vaccine development platforms and embed them within regional manufacturing systems to enable faster vaccine production and regulatory approvals during emergencies.

The third priority seeks to strengthen global scientific and manufacturing networks that can be quickly activated to support vaccine development, research and production, including securing access to one to two billion doses of regional manufacturing capacity.

Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Jean Kaseya, described the initiative as a major boost to Africa’s disease response capabilities.

Kaseya said, “CEPI is a global R&D champion and, for Africa, its 100 Days Mission is transformative. Our partnership with CEPI helps Africa to strengthen our surveillance capacity so we can detect outbreaks early and to put in place the infrastructure to develop and manufacture safe and effective vaccines that make Africa and the world safer.”

Since its establishment less than a decade ago, CEPI has supported over 50 vaccine candidates and 25 platform technology investments. The organisation also co-conceived and co-led the COVAX facility, which delivered nearly two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses globally.

According to CEPI, the total funding required to execute the new strategy is $3.6 billion. With $1.1 billion already secured, the organisation is seeking an additional $2.5 billion to fully implement the programme aimed at strengthening global health security and ensuring equitable access to life-saving vaccines.