CEPI welcomes HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium to its HQ in Oslo
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was delighted to today welcome Her Royal Highness (HRH) Princess Astrid of Belgium, the Belgium Embassy, the Norwegian State Secretary of International Development, Axel Jakobsen, and the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs to our Headquarters in Oslo, Norway.
With the Belgium Government one of CEPI's early investors, the visit served as an opportunity to update HRH Princess Astrid and the Belgium Embassy on our rapid progress in establishing a robust portfolio of vaccine candidates and platform technologies, while also building collaborative partnerships at local and global levels to further our mission to prevent future epidemics.
During the meeting, the CEPI Secretariat additionally provided an overview on our recent work as part of a global consortium supporting the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to introduce a second investigational Ebola vaccine (Ad.26ZEBOV, MVA-BN-Filo, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson) as part of ongoing efforts to contain the outbreak in DRC.
The Norwegian State Secretary of International Development, Aksel Jakobsen, spoke of how the creation of the coalition shows that anything is possible if we have the political will. He also highlighted how CEPI not only contributes to global health security but also acts an important instrument in enabling equitable access to vaccines for people during outbreaks.
Norwegian State Secretary of International Development, Axsel Jakobsen at CEPI’s headquarters, Norway, Credit: Vidar Sandnes
Princess Astrid of Belgium at CEPI’s headquarters, Norway Credit: Vidar Sandnes
We are thrilled that Princess Astrid takes an interest in how to fight one of our time's biggest threats – diseases with epidemic potential. That fight demands a global collaborative effort of multiple partners. Belgium has generously supported CEPI and we hope for their continued partnership in our effort to make the world a safer place.
Supporting the development and spreading of vaccines, in particular in the case of specific and sometimes neglected infectious diseases is a strategic priority for the Belgian Development Aid. In this field Belgium and CEPI are key allies, that have an interest in continuing and strengthening their cooperation. The Belgian action on vaccines is supported by an extensive network of public and private initiatives and co-operations. The recent progress made in recent months on the Ebola virus is exemplary in this respect.
Since our launch at Davos in 2017, CEPI has secured $750million towards its $1billion funding target, including a single-year investment from the Belgium Government. Through these financial investments, we have rapidly established a portfolio of 19 vaccine candidates against our priority pathogens (six against Lassa virus, five against MERS-CoV, four against Nipah virus, two against Chikungunya, two against Rift Valley fever) and three vaccine platforms to develop vaccines against Disease X. To assess the effectiveness of these platforms 7 additional vaccine candidates are being developed (two against influenza, one against Marburg virus, two against Rabies virus, one against Respiratory Syncytial Virus, and one against yellow fever).
We look forward to continuing to work closely and collaboratively with our global partners to ensure we successfully develop vaccines to prevent future epidemics from becoming humanitarian crises.
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