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Improved influenza vaccines are urgently needed to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza and to ensure a rapid and effective public-health response to future influenza pandemics. The Influenza Vaccines Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap (IVR) was created, through an extensive international stakeholder engagement process, to promote influenza vaccine R&D. The roadmap covers a 10-year timeframe and is organized into six sections: virology; immunology; vaccinology for seasonal influenza vaccines; vaccinology for universal influenza vaccines; animal and human influenza virus infection models; and policy, finance, and regulation. Each section identifies barriers, gaps, strategic goals, milestones, and additional R&D priorities germane to that area. The roadmap includes 113 specific R&D milestones, 37 of which have been designated high priority by the IVR expert taskforce. This report summarizes the major issues and priority areas of research outlined in the IVR. By identifying the key issues and steps to address them, the roadmap not only encourages research aimed at new solutions, but also provides guidance on the use of innovative tools to drive breakthroughs in influenza vaccine R&D., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: [Kristine Moore, Julia Ostrowsky, Angela Mehr, Michael Osterholm report financial support was provided by Wellcome Trust. Kristine Moore, Michael Osterholm report a relationship with Wellcome Trust that includes: funding grants. Coauthor received grants to the organization from Sanofi Pasteur, received grants from US CDC, PATH, Wellcome Trust, South African MRC. (CC) Coauthor is a former Director of one of the WHO International Reference Centres for influenza and was part of the biannual strain selection group. His family superannuation fund holds some shares in companies which produce vaccines, including Influenza vaccine (Pfizer, Merck and CSL) and specific antiviral agents (Vaxart). (IG) Coauthor is an independent Director of two organisations that support vaccine development, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories Pvt; Ltd. Neither is working on influenza vaccines. (GK) Coauthor has the following declarations: The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to universal influenza virus vaccines, SARS-CoV-2 serological assays and NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which name me as inventor. I would also like to note the following, which could be perceived as a conflict of interest: I have previously published work on influenza virus vaccines with S. Gilbert (University of Oxford); have consulted for Curevac, Merck and Pfizer (before 2020); I am currently consulting for Pfizer, Seqirus and Avimex; my laboratory is collaborating with Pfizer on animal models of SARS-CoV-2 and with Dynavax on influenza virus vaccines; my laboratory is collaborating with N. Pardi at the University of Pennsylvania on mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and my laboratory was working in the past with GlaxoSmithKline on the development of influenza virus vaccines and two of my mentees have recently joined Moderna. (FK)]., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) network, funded by the US National Institutes of Health, has been operational since 2007 and is tasked with conducting research to improve understanding of influenza viruses. Recently, CEIRS developed an Influenza Response Plan (IRP) to improve science preparedness for the network. Methods: Development of the IRP involved a collaborative process between project staff, CEIRS center directors or their designees, and NIAID CEIRS leadership (referred to as the Pandemic Planning Advisory Committee [PPAC]). Project staff identified and summarized the response capabilities of each center and then worked with the PPAC to identify and rank research priorities for an emergency response using a modified Delphi method. Results: Key elements of the response plan include tables of response capabilities for each CEIRS center, a framework that outlines and ranks research priorities for CEIRS during an emergency situation, and an operational strategy for executing the research priorities. Conclusions: The CEIRS IRP highlights the importance of enhancing science preparedness in advance of an influenza pandemic or other influenza‐related zoonotic incident to ensure that research can be carried out expeditiously and effectively in emergency situations and to improve global health security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]