The current Ebola outbreak, like hantavirus, serves as a warning. And we should heed it.
Outbreaks happen and always have. But their speed and scale have intensified, amplified by current and ongoing contexts of conflict, displacement, and climate change. These recent back-to-back outbreaks are reinforcing this fact.
The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in DRC as a public health emergency with the death toll reaching well over 100 people and climbing rapidly. This is terrible news for the region and the communities struggling with a disease with no approved vaccines.
On a cruise ship carrying passengers from more than 20 countries, a hantavirus outbreak showed how a single virus can reach people across the world before anyone sounds the alarm. Three people are dead and a case has been confirmed in Canada.
Experts do not consider these outbreaks to have a risk of escalation to pandemic proportions, but in the middle of all this are the people behind the numbers - lives lost not because we don’t have the capability but because we were not ready. And we were not ready because we didn't have the political will to invest in preparedness to the extent needed.
Global funding for pandemic preparedness is going in the wrong direction. Major donors – including Canada – are cutting back, leaving gaps in vaccine development and response systems.
Canada needs to change course away from aid cuts and towards investment in pandemic preparedness. Canada needs to see global health as a national security issue because diseases do not respect borders.
We’ve already seen what happens when the world isn’t ready for a fast-moving virus.
COVID-19 didn’t just disrupt our lives, it reshaped the world. It claimed 15 million lives and wiped $13.8 trillion from the global economy. And here’s the part that’s hardest to ignore: an estimated 8 million of those deaths could have been prevented if we had been prepared to develop vaccines within 100 days of the outbreak.
That’s the difference preparedness makes.
The science to move faster exists. What’s missing is the investment and political will to make it happen.
And the next pandemic isn’t going to wait for us to get ready.
Canada has everything it needs to be a leader here.
We have top-tier scientists, strong research institutions, and growing vaccine manufacturing capacity (see our map of Canadian global health innovators to see for yourself). We also have influence on the global stage, including at the G7.
But instead of stepping up, Canada is drifting in the same direction as others — scaling back investments in global health and research, while shifting spending toward traditional defence.
That might sound like strengthening security, but it misses the mark.
Pandemics are one of the biggest threats to global security. Cutting investment in science doesn’t make us safer — it leaves us more vulnerable.
Viruses don’t stop at borders. Military spending can’t contain them.
Vaccines can.
Since 1974, vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives, including 146 million children under five. That’s one of the most powerful returns on investment we’ve ever seen.
This isn’t just about global health. It’s about protecting people, economies, and stability — here in Canada and around the world.
The good news is we’re not starting from zero.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was created in 2017 to do exactly this: speed up the development of vaccines against emerging diseases.
When COVID-19 hit, CEPI helped coordinate nearly 2 billion vaccine doses to 146 countries and contributed to saving more than 2.7 million lives.
Now it’s taking the next step.
CEPI’s new strategy, CEPI 3.0, is built around the 100 Days Mission: making sure vaccines are ready within 100 days of identifying a new threat.
Not years. Not “as fast as possible.” One hundred days.
Safety is embedded in every aspect of the 100 Days Mission. It is not a plan to cut corners. It’s about regulatory preparedness and completing research and collecting data on a vaccine well in advance of a newly emerging outbreak. The work begins long before an outbreak is identified which means we already have a significant head start on the vaccine technology when the 100 days clock starts.
It’s ambitious, but it’s achievable. And it’s already underway.
So far, CEPI has supported over 50 vaccine candidates, helped develop the first-ever vaccines for diseases like Lassa and Nipah, and funded the world’s first licensed Chikungunya vaccine.
CEPI 3.0 will go further, targeting the diseases most likely to cause the next pandemic, speeding up vaccine platforms, and expanding manufacturing so countries aren’t left waiting.
All of this costs $2.5 billion over five years. A far cry from $700 billion per year that pandemics will cost the world if we’re not prepared.
This is where Canada comes in.
Canada has long been a champion of global health. Now is the time to reaffirm that commitment by:
At a time when others are stepping back, this is a chance for Canada to step forward.
The next pandemic isn’t a distant “what if.” It’s a “when.”
We can step up now, while we have the time, and build a system that responds faster, saves more lives, and prevents crises from spiraling out of control.
Or we can wait, and face the same consequences all over again.
The science is there. The plan is there.
Now it’s about whether we choose to act.
Make the choice, Canada.
