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 and cores that 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
NIAID provided up to approximately $51 million in total first-year funding for the program to support the CIVICs Network over seven years.