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“When the next pandemic comes knocking – and it will – we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively, and equitably." - Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern with the death toll climbing rapidly. 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 in a matter of days. While these are very different in scale, both are a reminder of how quickly the world can find itself exposed.
What these outbreaks also reveal is that the world is not starting from zero. For both, researchers already have early vaccine designs in development – the science can move fast when it needs to. But moving fast enough to reach the communities that need it most requires sustained commitment. There will be more outbreaks, and what we build now determines how the world responds when it matters, where it matters.
The ask: We call on Canada to champion the 100 Days Mission by investing $125 million over five years in CEPI 3.0, ensuring the world has safe, effective vaccines ready within 100 days of the next pandemic threat.
At the heart of the global pandemic response effort is the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Founded in 2017, CEPI accelerates vaccine development against emerging threats, not only for wealthy countries, but for every community that needs protection. Its most ambitious strategy yet, CEPI 3.0, funds the 100 Days Mission: ensuring the world has safe, effective vaccines within 100 days of the next pandemic threat.
For COVID-19, it took 326 days. Had it been 100 days, 8 million lives would have been saved. The 100 Days Mission is not about cutting corners. It is about doing the foundational work on regulations, research, data, and vaccine development now, so the world is ready when it counts, and so that when the clock starts, no community is left waiting.
CEPI in action
Ebola (DRC & Uganda 2026): There is no licensed vaccine for the strain driving this outbreak. But CEPI is working urgently with Africa CDC, the World Health Organization, and national authorities to rapidly advance vaccine development, with early evidence that an existing Ebola vaccine may offer some cross-protection.
Hantavirus (2026): CEPI-funded networks have already developed early vaccine designs for the hantavirus family, with laboratory tests showing they can trigger an immune response. These networks can be rapidly mobilized if needed.
Marburg (Rwanda, 2024): Working with CEPI and partners, Rwanda launched an emergency vaccine trial just 10 days after the outbreak was declared, with no licensed vaccine available and a historical fatality rate as high as 88%. The outbreak was declared over on December 20, 2024, with Rwanda recording one of the lowest Marburg case fatality rates ever seen.
COVID-19 (2020): CEPI helped deliver nearly 2 billion vaccine doses to 146 countries through COVAX, saving over 2.7 million lives. Those lessons, what worked and what did not, are built into everything CEPI does now.
In less than a decade, CEPI has supported over 50 vaccine candidates – including the first-ever vaccines for Lassa, Nipah, and MERS ever tested in humans.
Canada has world-class researchers and established vaccine manufacturers (see our map for more). In fact, Canadian researchers are part of CEPI's global network, contributing the foundational science that feeds into the 100 Days Mission and helping set the standards by which all vaccine candidates are measured. Canadian laboratories are shaping the regulatory frameworks that determine how fast a vaccine reaches people when it is needed most. A new pledge to CEPI is also:
an investment in Canadian innovation, jobs, and economy
a signal that innovation made here is meant to benefit everyone
a clear message from Canada that pandemic preparedness as a core part of what it means to lead
But innovation alone is not enough. A vaccine that exists is not the same as a vaccine that reaches you. CEPI was built with that reality at its core:
Every agreement it signs requires that vaccines are first available to the people who need them, wherever they are in the world, regardless of ability to pay.
Funded science is shared openly, so researchers everywhere can build on it.
Stockpiles of investigational vaccines are maintained and made available free of charge when outbreaks strike.
CEPI only works with partners who share these commitments.
CEPI and the 100 Days Mission – what investment delivers
Future pandemics could cost the global economy over US$700 billion every year CEPI's entire 2027–2031 strategy costs a fraction of this at US$2.5 billion.
fund the development of vaccines against the diseases most likely to cause the next pandemic.
build faster ways to develop new vaccines when unknown threats emerge.
strengthen manufacturing capacity in every region of the world so that no country is left waiting when the next outbreak strikes.
work with Canadian scientists and manufacturers, meaning this investment strengthens Canada's own research and vaccine innovation capacity while protecting the world.
Investing in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response is estimated to yield a significant return on investment of US$14 for every dollar spent.
why invest now
The world is cutting pandemic preparedness budgets precisely when it should be doing the opposite. The G7 countries are on track to cut international aid by 28% compared to 2024. Canada has reduced its international assistance by $2.7 billion over four years. And the International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat warns the world is already falling behind the speed and scale of emerging threats.
The cost of unpreparedness is not abstract. COVID-19 cost Canada over $624 billion and pushed between 88 and 115 million people into extreme poverty (living on less than $3 per person per day) worldwide. A pledge of $125 million over five years to CEPI, less than the cost of a single day of that response, would make Canada one of CEPI's leading investors and send a signal to G7 partners that pandemic preparedness is not a line item to be trimmed. . A pledge of $125 million over five years to CEPI, less than the cost of a single day of that response, would make Canada one of CEPI's leading investors and send a signal to G7 partners that pandemic preparedness is not a line item to be trimmed.
The Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks are not a forecast, they are what is already happening. The question is whether the tools will be ready when and where they are needed most. With the G7 Leaders' Summit in June and the UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in September, Canada has a rare and consequential opportunity to answer that question, and to show that when the world needed countries to step forward, Canada did.
The ask: We call on Canada to champion the 100 Days Mission by investing $125 million over five years in CEPI 3.0, ensuring the world has safe, effective vaccines ready within 100 days of the next pandemic threat.
latest campaign news
Secure The Future
At the World Health Assembly last month, Singapore and the European Union both announced new pledges to CEPI with the Ebola and Hantavirus outbreaks making the case in real time. Canada has not yet made a new pledge. We brought that message to Parliament Hill at our Science Fair last month, and our latest blog captures why it matters: Made-in-Canada solutions for global health security help us all.
story
For decades, Lassa fever has brought fear and loss to communities across West Africa. And for decades, those communities have had no vaccine to turn to. That is beginning to change. For doctors like Dr. Kumblytee Johnson in Liberia, who has spent her career watching patients suffer from a disease the world largely ignored, the first mid-stage trials of a Lassa vaccine represent something profound.
"On the day this vaccine is licensed and starts to be used in clinics, I will feel very good. It will prove that research is saving lives and improving global health." — Dr. Kumblytee Johnson
Watch the latest from this video series from McGill's Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab. Across episodes, guests reflect on what COVID-19 revealed, where preparedness continues to fall short, and what it will take to build more resilient and coordinated responses. Share an episode with someone in your network.
June 9 to 12 - Global Health Security Conference June 11 - Results Canada Annual General Meeting June 15 to 17 - G7 Leaders’ Summit June 20 - World Refugee Day
