The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), created the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs) program, a network of research centers that will work together in a coordinated, multidisciplinary effort to advance influenza vaccine science. The overarching goals of this program include:
- Supporting improvements in the immunogenicity and durability of seasonal influenza vaccines
- Developing innovative influenza vaccine approaches that provide robust, durable, broadly protective mucosal and systemic anti-influenza immunity
- Conducting iterative vaccine design based on detailed immunologic assessment of influenza vaccine candidates through preclinical animal studies, early phase clinical trials, and healthy volunteer human challenge studies
- Advancing the most promising vaccine candidates into Phase I and II clinical trials
NIAID will provide up to approximately $51 million in total first-year funding for the program, which is designed to support the CIVICs program centers over seven years.