ANNETTE PRIETO, ROBERT HUANG, CHRISTOPHER A. EUSEBI, MELISSA SHOSTAK
A Brief Overview of
Emerging Vaccine
Technologies for
Pandemic Preparedness
T
he past two decades provide many examples of the importance of pandemic preparedness.
Outbreaks of SARS, swine flu, MERS, Ebola, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
have caused major social, political, and economic disruptions around the world. In light
of these events, pandemic preparedness has proven to be critical to health, national, and
economic security. Now, countries are investing billions of dollars in various pandemic prepared-
ness tools, such as vaccines and broad-spectrum medical countermeasures (MCM), to address the
threats arising from outbreaks. These tools not only offer protection against naturally occurring
and accidental biological incidents but can also help provide some protection against deliberate
biological attacks.
Furthermore, pandemic preparedness has substantial economic implications for both the public
and private sectors because of its connection with the biotechnology industry, an important compo-
nent of the worldwide economy. The industry is critical for economic competition, but it also pro-
vides opportunities for relationship-building among allies, academia, and industry partners.
With so many aspects of pandemic preparedness tied to public health, national security, and
economic competition, understanding the key technology and policy trends of the major country
stakeholders in this space provides valuable insights into pandemic preparedness gaps and ways of
addressing them. Therefore, in this report, we discuss both technical and policy aspects of vaccine
concepts and technologies, broad-spectrum MCM, and immunization facilitation. We researched
these topics to provide insights for Japan’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, focusing
specifically on the national policies of the United States, China, and Russia. However, the results
of this research should be relevant to audiences beyond Japan. While Japan’s rapidly aging popula-
tion makes it particularly vulnerable to pandemics, many other nations also have growing numbers
of older people; Japan is a harbinger rather than an outlier. Moreover, many of the capabilities and
policies that Japan could develop to counter pandemic threats could also be pursued by other coun-
tries. This research is therefore relevant to broader audiences around the globe.
C O R P O R A T I O N
Research Report
