Richard Hatchett, CEPI: “Access does not just happen.”

The CommonHealth

Beth Cameron, Senior Advisor and Professor of the Practice at the Brown University Pandemic Center and a Senior Adviser and non-resident fellow at CSIS, hosts this inspiring July 14 conversation with Richard Hatchett, the CEO of CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Richard first came to Washington DC in the aftermath of 9/11 to create the U.S. Medical Reserve Corps. There was no looking back. He served in several administrations as a leading expert in bio preparedness and left government to lead CEPI at its creation in 2017, its mission to support the accelerated development of vaccines and other countermeasures against future biothreats. With the Covid-19 pandemic, health security has become an enduring global concern, with now a fierce focus on access to new technology, and regional manufacturing capabilities. “You have to design your programs with your access goal in mind from the very beginning,” Preparedness is “not a static achievement.” It is “a dynamic state of readiness” that evolves through practice – “train, train, train.” CEPI’s signature big idea is the 100 Day Mission, in which vaccine designs and delivery platforms are ready to spring into action when new biothreats appear. Cuts in finances and programs by the Trump administration and others will compromise disease surveillance, detection and containment measures, increasing the risks to Americans and beyond. Cuts are also forcing reflection, the setting of priorities, and finding ways to finance and achieve better and more efficient outcomes. The remarkable speed in which a vaccine was introduced during the Marburg outbreak in Rwanda in September 2024 rested not on luck. It built on CEPI’s pre-existing partnerships with the Rwanda government and several other institutions, including WHO and key US agencies. CEPI has invested since 2017 in over $1 billion in the US biotech sector, and has just concluded an agreement to work with DOD.