The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will support the international initiative "Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations" (CEPI) with another 100 million euros to enable vaccine development against new pathogens within 100 days.
CEPI aims to promote the development of vaccines against pathogens with pandemic potential through investment. As a founding member, Germany contributes 90 million euros to the CEPI core portfolio. During the Corona pandemic, 430 million euros in additional funding was also allocated to the COVID-19 portfolio. From 2022 to 2026, CEPI will now receive an additional 100 million euros in funding from the BMBF.
Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger explains:
"For the management of the Corona pandemic, the rapid availability of vaccines was a crucial turning point. It showed that we need the international vaccine initiative 'Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations'. A core goal of CEPI is to enable the development and production of a vaccine against new pathogens within 100 days. We fully support this important goal and therefore intend to fund CEPI with an additional 100 million euros from 2022 to 2026. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has already done this from the very beginning with a total of 520 million euros. After all, global problems need global solutions."
CEPI has so far invested in the development of 14 vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2, with five COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax, SK Bioscience and Biological E gaining regulatory approval.
CEPI also advocates for equitable access and global distribution of vaccines and invests in the development of platform technologies to rapidly adapt vaccines to new pathogens.
Further information
www.cepi.net