CEPI's 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. CEPI is working to take many of the most worrying epidemic and pandemic threats off the table by investing in preparedness, innovation and equity now to develop life-saving vaccines against known threats and to dramatically reduce the future risk of pandemics. And through its progress on priority pathogens, CEPI is generating crucial data and knowledge about vaccines for many of the most dangerous viral families that will help the world to face down a future Disease X, and building the capabilities the world needs to make the 100 Days Mission a reality.
CEPI expanded the number of viral pathogenic families of focus in 2023 to include the Filovirus family. This viral family includes the deadly haemorrhagic fever viruses Ebola and Marburg, which are endemic to West and Central Africa. These viruses cause frequent unpredictable outbreaks of varying size and duration with significant health impacts – the fatality rate can be as high as 90%. Filoviruses have a high health, social, and economic cost, beyond the cases and deaths occurring in each outbreak. For example, the large 2014-2016 West African Zaire ebolavirus outbreak is estimated to have had an economic and social cost burden of US $53.19 billion, comprising factors including the direct cost of containing the outbreak, Gross Domestic Product losses in affected countries, loss of education during school closures, and children who lost one or both parents in the outbreak. The most significant cost was attributed to a reduction in health care workforce, both from deaths in the workforce and a diversion of resources during the outbreak itself, and the associated downstream impacts of reduced access to health care, including non-ebolavirus deaths. It is estimated that during the 2014-2016 West African Zaire ebolavirus outbreak, there were over 37,000 additional non- ebolavirus deaths, due to reduced healthcare worker capacity and access, in areas including maternal and infant deaths, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles.
The overall objective of this Action is to leverage co-funding from the European Commission to develop a broadly protective Filovirus vaccine with the aim of using the future vaccines in preventive vaccination campaigns in regions where Filoviruses emerge, thereby protecting populations at risk. This work will include designing and testing several immunogens against a wide range of viruses with outbreak potential in the Filovirus family and could be instrumental in driving forward the 100 Days Mission.
