Nordic Life Science 1
the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovatio
ns (CEPI) began working to make vaccine development – including for coronaviruses – faster and less of a financial burden. CEPI is a global nonprofit, supported by public and private funders, based in Oslo. It arose after 2013– 2016 Ebola epidemics showed the complexities of rapid vaccine deployment. “Our mission is to accelerate development of vaccines for epidemics and enable equitable access to them,” says Elen Høeg, CEPI policy manager, “because we know new viruses and epidemics will arise.” A New England Journal of Medicine Perspective from CEPI leaders gives an overview of the organization. It reviews vaccine types – from traditional inactivated viruses to new DNA and RNA platforms – using examples of COVID-19 vaccine candidates. The article compares the usual timeline of vaccine development with an outbreak model in which steps that are usually sequential now overlap, such as animal studies in parallel with human phase 1 testing. The outbreak paradigm includes the high-risk step of building manufacturing capacity before knowing which vaccine will be successful. 66