The global reach of infectious disease pandemics typically necessitates a similarly ubiquitous public health intervention: mass vaccination. The development and large-scale deployment of a vaccine requires substantial investment and a coalition of stakeholders to undertake research and development (including phase I to III clinical trials), manufacturing, and widespread administration. Recent efforts by national and international funders and researchers to advance the state of vaccinology for pandemics and other infectious disease emergencies have focused largely on expediting the R&D phase [1]. There has been comparatively less attention paid to modernizing, optimizing, and therefore accelerating other aspects of the vaccine enterprise—namely, manufacturing, distribution, and administration. The current COVID-19 pandemic plainly underscores the need to vastly accelerate mass vaccination in every phase.

We have conducted two qualitative research studies on vaccine manufacturing and administration capabilities in the context of infectious disease emergencies and have authored two forthcoming reports (Mass Vaccination 2.0: A Survey of New Technologies and Strategies and Vaccine Capacity for Global Pandemics: Manufacturing and Distribution). Here, we seek to apply findings and lessons from that work to inform the vaccine response to COVID-19.