“I am convinced that there will be a future pandemic caused by an influenza virus lineage.”

Richard Hatchett, Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the world’s largest international organization supporting vaccine development, made this comment in an interview with the Dong-A Ilbo held at an event venue in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 6th. He stressed that future pandemics must be prepared for by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI).

CEPI was launched in 2017, led by the Norwegian government and the Gates Foundation, to support the development of vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases. To date, it has provided about USD 3.6 billion (approximately KRW 5.28 trillion) to support the development of vaccine candidates and related projects. Hatchett, a medical oncologist, served as a senior official responsible for medical crisis response policy under the administrations of U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and has chaired CEPI since 2019.

Hatchett expressed concern that another pandemic could occur at any time. He warned, “Not only coronaviruses, but also dengue, Zika, and chikungunya fevers, which are transmitted by mosquitoes, could all lead to pandemics.”

Hatchett emphasized that “when an infectious disease becomes a pandemic, it is critical to develop a vaccine within 100 days.” In the case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Pfizer vaccine received emergency use authorization 11 months after the outbreak. He said, “I believe the timing of vaccine use during COVID-19 was late,” adding, “According to a study we conducted with Imperial College London, if a vaccine had been introduced within 100 days at that time, it could have saved 8 million lives and reduced economic losses by trillions of dollars.”

What Hatchett is focusing on to accelerate vaccine development is the “use of AI.” He said, “Applying AI to vaccine development helps design protein structures and predict the evolutionary trajectory of viruses,” and added, “The Korean government is also prioritizing the use of AI, so I expect AI will be introduced even more actively in vaccine development.”

CEPI has signed investment agreements worth up to USD 470 million (approximately KRW 688.7 billion) for a total of 32 projects with Korean companies, universities, and other partners. Hatchett said, “Korea has strong public-private cooperation in preparing for epidemics and possesses outstanding capabilities in vaccine manufacturing and production,” and added, “I hope it will make even greater contributions to global health care.”

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