Why we exist
Our mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need.
Epidemic diseases affect us all. They do not respect borders
As the COVID-19 pandemic showed, in a world characterised by increasing population density, human mobility and ecological change, emerging infectious diseases pose a real and growing threat to global health security.
The costs of emerging infectious diseases are vast, in both human and economic terms. Even small epidemics can cause tremendous economic disruption, while pandemics like COVID-19 can lead to devastating loss of life, overwhelming disruption to societies and economic losses of trillions of dollars.
Vaccines are one of our most powerful tools in the fight to outsmart epidemics. The development of vaccines can help save lives, protect societies and restabilise economies.
The creation of CEPI
Historically, vaccine development has been a long, risky and costly endeavour. Planning for emerging infectious diseases is especially challenging: the market potential for vaccines against these diseases is limited and testing such vaccines is difficult.
Events like the devastating 2014-16 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa—which killed more than 11,000 people and had an economic and social burden of over US $53 billion—showed us that very few vaccines are ready to be used against these threats.
The world’s response to this crisis fell tragically short. A vaccine that had been under development for more than a decade was not deployed until over a year into the epidemic. That vaccine was shown to have 100% efficacy, suggesting that much of the epidemic could have been prevented.
CEPI was launched at Davos in 2017 as the result of a consensus that a coordinated, international, and intergovernmental plan was needed to develop and deploy new vaccines to prevent future epidemics.
Latest News
Latest News
Richard Hatchett reflects on a “banner year for viruses” and looks ahead to 2025
In his end-of-year message, CEPI's CEO, Dr Richard Hatchett, reflects on a "banner year for viruses" and explores the trends, innovations and technologies that are shaping the future of global health.
Valneva expands access to Asia for its chikungunya vaccine with Serum
The collaboration to support broader vaccine access to the region falls within the agreement between Valneva and CEPI with co-funding from the EU.
Establishing vaccine safety benchmarking in Africa for African vaccines
Consortium is set to further establish a vaccine safety evidence-generation network in Africa, seeking to understand prevalence of anticipated adverse events specifically relevant to African populations.
The Pneumoviruses and Adenoviruses
Among these viruses is a pervasive pathogen that infects nearly all babies and children worldwide at least once— sometimes twice—before they reach the age of two
Scientists launch largest-ever study tracking chikungunya burden in East Africa
Led by the University of Oxford, researchers are set to investigate the number of children and adults affected by chikungunya in Kenya and Tanzania.
Transatlantic scientists to transition traditional vaccine development onto rapid-response platform for faster outbreak control
Partnership could speed up parts of the vaccine development process by several months and save over £1 million in development costs
CEPI and Accumulus Synergy team up to enhance information equity and accelerate access to vaccines
Accumulus' cloud-based data-sharing platform could speed up access to vaccines and other health technologies by accelerating regulatory review.
Dr Amadou Sall to join CEPI as Executive Director of Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Dr Sall will join CEPI on 1 June 2025 upon completion of his tenure as CEO of Senegal’s Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD).
The Rhabdoviruses
The most fearsome Rhabdovirus causes a killer infection which makes its victims foam at the mouth
New project aims to bolster global vaccine preparedness against SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2
Project will help to ensure the availability of antibody reagents for the development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2.
New study to assess mpox vaccine in pregnant women and infants
The research could help expand vaccine access to these populations at risk of mpox complications but not currently eligible for vaccination.
The Caliciviruses, Reoviruses and Astroviruses
Attackers from these three viral families cause hundreds of millions of cases of severe diarrhoea and vomiting every year - many of them deadly.
