About us Get involved Research COVAX Marketplace News & stories Careers Contact CEPI Statement: Emergence of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant, B.1.1.529 26 Nov 2021 By CEPI COVID-19 SHARE Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said: “The emergence of a SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529 underscores the critical need for continued COVID-19 vaccine research and development. “It’s of course critical that we continue to get people vaccinated globally to reduce the amount of virus in circulation but we must also focus effort and resources on improving the current COVID-19 vaccines to make them more effective against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2. “Our strategy must seek to optimize the way we deploy our current vaccines so every dose delivers the maximum benefit; improve upon our existing arsenal of vaccines; and prepare now for the possibility of variants that can evade our vaccines. “CEPI’s world-leading COVID-19 vaccine programme is seeking to do all three: – CEPI is funding studies to help policy makers deliver the most effective possible vaccination strategies with the vaccines we have available, like ‘mix-and-match’ vaccination approaches which could lead to stronger and longer lasting protection. – We’re developing the ‘next-generation’ of vaccines that could offer advantages over the current jabs, like vaccines that target different parts of the virus and a nasal vaccine with the potential to stop transmission. – And we’re staying one step ahead of the virus by supporting the development of vaccines against variants of concern that we already known about, as well as ‘variant-proof’ vaccines which could protect against a broad range of variants that are yet to emerge but could do so in the future. “CEPI is also part of a global system designed to pick up these mutants instantly, allowing us to alert our global lab network to start assessing whether current vaccines can block this and future COVID-19 variants, and to alert CEPI-backed developers to look at making variant-proofing updates to their products.” CEPI Related articles 23 Nov 2021 CEPI funds Aga Khan University-led consortium to conduct mix-and-match trial of COVID-19 vaccines in Pakistan Read more 18 Nov 2021 CEPI and Clover expand partnership for COVID-19 vaccine to include evaluation as a booster Read more Subscribe to our newsletter I agree with the Ts & Cs Media enquiries Contact us Get involved in our cause Invest Become a partner ABOUT US Why we exist Mission Approach Who we are Overview Leadership Board Investors & Partners Scientific Advisory Committee Joint Coordination Group Antiracism statement Anti-Slavery Statement Governance Articles of association Board Meeting Summaries Board of Directors' report, annual accounts and Auditor's statement Business Plan CEPI Policies Equitable Access Financial Internal policies Investors Council Joint Coordination Group Members Meetings Other Guidance for Awardees Scientific Advisory Committee Strategy & Progress Terms of reference GET INVOLVED Support CEPI Invest in CEPI Progress Work with CEPI Work at CEPI Follow our work Calls for Proposals RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Our portfolio Platform Technology Priority diseases MERS Lassa Nipah Disease X Rift Valley fever Chikungunya Ebola Vaccine science Biological Standards, Assays & Animal Models Collect vaccine data Researching emerging infectious diseases INFO & ACTION News & stories Outbreaks Careers Contact Social LinkedIn Twitter Legal Terms of use Privacy policy Procurement tenders Reporting Concern ©2021 CEPI. All rights reserved