Appendix A

Statement of Task

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) will convene an International Committee of domestic and international experts from across sectors (e.g., government, academia, industry, civil society, international public health organizations) and a variety of disciplines to provide an iterative, interactive, multidisciplinary, expert-informed process for assessing the global impact that capabilities, technologies, processes, and policies developed for COVID-19 could have on pandemic and seasonal influenza global preparedness and response, especially regarding vaccine development. The International Committee will provide recommendations developed by four concurrent National Academies ad hoc committees. The recommendations of these ad hoc committees will be released as four peer-reviewed reports on how to improve the global design, composition, clinical trials, production, scale-up, regulatory approval, distribution of influenza vaccines, and post-approval surveillance for adverse events.

The four concurrent ad hoc committees will examine the emerging evidence on research and development for COVID-19 relevant to advancing seasonal and pandemic influenza global preparedness and response. The focus areas of the four consensus studies will be

• Concurrent Consensus Study 1: Vaccine research and development, including platforms in discovery and manufacturing
• Concurrent Consensus Study 2: Distribution and supply chain
• Concurrent Consensus Study 3: Public health interventions and countermeasures (nonpharmaceutical interventions, diagnostics, and treatment strategies)

• Concurrent Consensus Study 4: International coordination, innovative partnerships, and sustainable financing for influenza preparedness and response

As part of this initiative the NAM is organizing a public information-gathering workshop which will help to inform the four study committees as they develop their reports. This workshop will have a formal National Academies proceedings document and will be linked to the Health and Medicine Division studies. The workshop planning committee will be comprised of some members of the International Committee, as well as additional outside experts.