New York Times: Stopping Pandemics Before They Start
Tina Rosenberg, author and a co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network

“…Over the next five years, [the Center for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)] aims to develop multiple viable vaccine candidates against three pathogens: Lassa fever, Nipah, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. … One of CEPI’s goals is to create simpler, more agile structures for approvals. CEPI’s second goal is to create a vaccine delivery system that can be quickly adapted to stem new pathogens … CEPI also aims to achieve full approval and manufacture for the Ebola vaccine … CEPI has no manufacturing facilities. It will, instead, finance research and development at pharmaceutical or biotech companies. CEPI will require its awardees to sell vaccines to the poorest and lower-middle-income countries (more likely, to donors who will buy vaccine for them) at the lowest possible price. … CEPI’s value may go beyond the success of any single vaccine. The organization’s ability to streamline a vaccine process will likely matter more than any new product, said Seth Berkley, the chief executive of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance … The biggest threat to this mission is not scientific, but political — our short attention span…” (6/27).