Advancing development of medical countermeasures: Incorporating COVID-19 lessons learned into future pandemic preparedness planning

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted, and, out of necessity, accelerated innovation of research and development of medical countermeasures to combat COVID-19. Although countermeasures were developed with unprecedented speed as a result of decades of long-term Federal investments in platform technologies and existing partnerships, the pandemic also revealed gaps in our preparedness and response capabilities that threaten our readiness posture. Challenges include limited federal funding that hinders sustainable development and manufacturing of, and equitable access to, medical countermeasures. Here we discuss lessons learned from the development and production efforts of medical countermeasures, such as vaccines and immunotherapeutics, to combat COVID-19. This commentary highlights some of the key gaps and challenges that must be addressed to ensure preparation for future outbreaks caused by viruses of pandemic potential.