The independent International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat (IPPS) has released a new report highlighting progress in the 100 Days Mission, an international effort to ensure that safe, effective vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics are available within 100 days of the onset of future pandemic threats. Victor J. Dzau, President of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), is a member of the IPPS steering group and co-chair of the IPPS Science and Technology Expert Group, which provides technical input and assurance to the 100 Days Mission. “It is my privilege to serve as co-chair of this expert group, which will provide critical advice and evaluation of progress toward the 100 Days Mission,” Dzau shared.
What is the 100 Days Mission?
The first 100 days of a pandemic are crucial to changing its course. By the time the first COVID vaccine had been developed and approved in response to the pandemic — albeit in a record 326 days — an estimated 68.7 million cases had been reported worldwide. Had such a vaccine been made available within 100 days, when there were closer to 2.3 million global cases, countless lives and livelihoods could have been saved and the $12.5 trillion in lost economic output predicted by 2024 might have been mitigated.
New 100 Days Mission implementation report
In December 2021, the UK G7 Presidency Chief Scientific Advisors published their first progress report on the 100 Days Mission implementation process.* This week, the IPPS published a second implementation report, which builds on the original implementation report from the UK G7 Scientific Advisers and tracks and celebrates progress in pandemic preparedness from January to December 2022. Progress highlights include the establishment of the Pandemic Fund with $1.6 billion pledged, expansion of existing vaccine manufacturing plans in Africa, and over $800M in new funding announced for pandemic therapeutics. A proposed path forward for 2023 is outlined, targeting areas where the community of implementation partners, with support from the IPPS, should focus their efforts to provide the most value to the 100DM and overall pandemic preparedness. Encouragingly, several of these areas have already been identified as key priorities for the Japanese G7 presidency and the Indian G20 Presidency in 2023.
The report covers progress against the 100 Days Mission and each of its 25 recommendations based on a combination of desk research; interviews with global health and pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response stakeholders; and pro-forma surveys from implementation partners. The report identifies six areas of focus that will need effort to sustain momentum and capitalize on opportunities in 2023. These include coordinating research and development (R&D) against priority virus families; advancing programmable platform technologies for vaccines and therapeutics; integrating global diagnostic R&D and surveillance efforts; accelerating clinical trial and regulatory processes for data generation; building sustainable, regional manufacturing capacity; and agreeing on ‘Day 0’ surge financing mechanisms.
This is the second implementation report on the 100 Days Mission but the first done independently by the new the IPPS. The IPPS will drive forward the 100DM by catalyzing scientific exchange and facilitating multidisciplinary engagement of key implementation partners. The IPPS aims to empower the global community to maintain ambition toward the 100DM, supporting continuity across rotating G7 and G20 presidencies and helping identify priority areas for investment. Work of the IPPS will complement the existing efforts of many multilateral organizations including the World Health Organization, CEPI, and industry partners. The IPPS will be a time-limited entity: there will be a progress review in 2024, and the group is expected to complete its work by 2026.
Open call for nominations to the Science and Technology Expert group
The IPPS’s work will be guided by the Science and Technology Expert Group (STEG), co-chaired by Dzau. The STEG will be an independent group of globally diverse cross-sectoral technical experts, providing scientific rigor to future annual implementation reports, researching solutions to implementation barriers, and galvanizing support from the global scientific community on pandemic preparedness.
The IPPS is accepting nominations for STEG membership from scientists and experts in all regions with expertise in the areas critical to the success of the 100DM. The nomination period closes February 5. STEG members will be selected by an independent selection panel and will ensure gender and regional diversity in addition to content area expertise.
* 100 Days Mission: First Implementation Report (2021). An independent report on progress to G7 Leaders from G7 Chief Scientific Advisers.
