The European Commission will co-fund, with €100 million, a call launched by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to support the rapid development of coronavirus vaccines, it has been announced.

The EU support is part of the commission's pledge to invest €1 billion from Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme, into urgently needed research and innovation to develop diagnostic tests, treatments, vaccines and other prevention tools to counter the spread of the coronavirus.

'Most promising vaccine candidates'

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “We need efficient treatments and vaccines to eliminate the danger of the coronavirus. That is why we are proud to support CEPI in its endeavour to rapidly develop the most promising vaccine candidates.” 

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, CEPI, a global partnership created in 2017 to develop vaccines to prevent future epidemics, is working to rapidly develop a broad portfolio of the most advanced coronavirus vaccine candidates and to ensure that these are ready to be produced at scale, in collaboration with industry partners.

The Horizon 2020 support to CEPI will fund research and innovation activities but not the manufacturing of vaccines. More information about the call is available here and about how EU research and innovation is supporting the fight against the coronavirus and the recovery is here.

As part of the Coronavirus Global Response initiative, €15.9 billion has been pledged to date for universal access to tests, treatments and vaccines against the coronavirus outbreak and for the global recovery