The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has warned that a $185 million funding gap could undermine efforts to develop and ensure equitable access to vaccines against Bundibugyo virus.

CEPI raised the concern in a publication marking 100 days into the Bundibugyo response, saying rapid progress had been made towards developing and making countermeasures equitably accessible, but more remained to be done.

The publication, released on Tuesday, was titled ‘100 days into the Bundibugyo emergency, unprecedented speed is still not enough’.

It said the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organisation had jointly inaugurated a Continental Preparedness and Response Plan.

The report said the continental preparedness and response plan requires $518 million to help African countries and partners respond to the outbreak. According to CEPI, the plan has disbursed only $333.2 million so far, leaving a $184.8 million funding shortfall.

It said urgent additional contributions were needed to the emergency response, warning that failure to provide immediate funding could delay Phase Two/Three trials and access to vaccines, ultimately resulting in fewer lives saved.

CEPI said its goal for vaccine research and development was to bring at least two Bundibugyo virus vaccine candidates to Emergency Use Authorisation. It said achieving the goal could help curtail the outbreak and save lives, while strengthening the global pipeline of countermeasures against future Bundibugyo outbreaks.

The organisation said it had also made progress on equitable access to potential vaccines, with partners identifying draft priorities to guide fair distribution once vaccines were approved.

It said the priorities included embedding community engagement in clinical trial design, resolving indemnification and liability gaps, and ensuring that displaced and refugee populations were included in vaccination plans.

CEPI also identified community trust as an urgent issue, particularly regarding how using the existing Ervebo Ebola vaccine could influence perceptions of new vaccines developed specifically against Bundibugyo virus.

The organisation said early coordination among CEPI, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), alongside rapidly activated technical networks, had helped the response move faster in some areas than during the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak.

CEPI said the experience underscored the need to make the 100 Days Mission an operational reality by strengthening preparedness and ensuring that response systems could be activated rapidly during future outbreaks.

“The 100 Days Mission must hold regardless of how an outbreak begins, and readiness assessments should reflect that,” it said.

The organisation also warned against reducing investment in pandemic preparedness, emphasising the need to strengthen institutions and capabilities before the next health emergency.

“We cannot allow this to happen. The world must invest in the institutions and capabilities that make us all safer, advancing preparedness and readiness to enable rapid surge in an outbreak response,” CEPI said.

It also urged stronger coordination to ensure that progress made during the Bundibugyo response translated into faster and more equitable access to countermeasures for affected populations and future outbreaks.

(NAN)