Global pandemic preparedness is becoming “increasingly fragile at a time of growing biosecurity and geopolitical risk”, according to the International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat (IPPS), which launched its Fifth Implementation Report of the 100 Days Mission on Tuesday.

The “100 Days Mission” refers to the global ambition to develop safe, effective and affordable diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines (DTVs) within 100 days of a pandemic threat being identified. 

But pressure on global R&D pipelines, declining investment in pandemic countermeasures, and heavy reliance on a small number of funders mean that the 100-day target is not possible in many areas, according to the report.

“Major reductions in global health and research budgets in 2025 have exposed structural vulnerabilities, disrupted development pipelines, and weakened preparedness,” the IPPS notes in a media release.

“Investment in pandemic countermeasure R&D continued to decline through 2024, with the steepest impacts seen in therapeutics. Pipelines across diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines remain uneven and clustered in early stages, with limited progression into mid-stage and late-stage development. 

“Progress on enabling systems, including regulatory preparedness, clinical trial readiness, data-sharing frameworks and manufacturing coordination, remains slow,” the media release notes.

Outbreaks of mpox,  a continental health emergency in Africa until last week, the zoonotic spillover risk of H5N1, and outbreaks of Ebola, Marburg, Rift Valley Fever and Chikungunya “have highlighted persistent challenges in early detection, coordination and equitable access to countermeasures”, according to the IPPS.

“The science needed to respond faster to pandemics continues to advance, but this report makes clear that progress in applying these advances to delivering effective tools is insufficient,” said Dr Mona Nemer, chair of the IPPS Steering Group and Chief Science Adviser of Canada.

“Today, despite the landmark WHO Pandemic Agreement, the world remains vulnerable to funding shocks, uncoordinated R&D efforts and fragile development pipelines – particularly for therapeutics.”

Priorities for 2026

For the first time, the 100-day scorecard includes an assessment of pandemic preparedness and response (PPR) capacity in Africa. 

This evaluates the continent’s capabilities in clinical trials, laboratory systems, regulatory frameworks and manufacturing.

“Advances in platform technologies, including mRNA, monoclonal antibodies and artificial intelligence, continue to offer opportunities to accelerate development,” according to the report, which also identifies “significant pressures”.

However, it notes that Africa shows “growing regulatory maturity and manufacturing capability”. It highlights Rwanda’s integration of the 100 Days Mission framework and scorecard into national preparedness planning as an example of how the mission can be operationalised at the country level.

The report, launched in Paris, identifies 2026 as a decisive year as France begins its G7 presidency.

It  identifies four priority action areas for 2026:

• Operationalising the Therapeutics Development Coalition to address persistent gaps in antiviral R&D.
• Enhancing coordination across the diagnostics ecosystem and implementing recommendations from the Global Diagnostics Gap Assessment.
• Sustaining vaccine investment and strengthening alignment across diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
• Agreeing on a sustainable mechanism for pandemic preparedness monitoring, including a long-term path for the 100 Days Mission Scorecard beyond the IPPS mandate(which ends in 2027).

Image Credits: PREZODE , Photo by Carlos Magno on Unsplash.