Recent Accomplishments 

Leveraging federal and non-federal partners, the PHEMCE made progress toward the three previously established goals in the 2022 SIP. The accomplishments below, achieved throughout 2022 and 2023, informed vital decisions that strengthened the MCM enterprise:

1. Identified needs to protect Americans against current and emerging threats. 
   2022 was a critical year for continuing to reconstitute the PHEMCE infrastructure and ensuring the PHEMCE meets the statutory requirements set forth by the PHS Act. In 2022, the PHEMCE aligned on MCM goals and funding availability. The PHEMCE established critical processes, such as business rules and mechanisms for information sharing, integral to PHEMCE's ability to make recommendations. Next, the PHEMCE reviewed all existing Requirements and made recommendations to retire, update, or validate existing models and the Requirements on which they are based. In parallel, PHEMCE responded to emerging MCM-related issues in Ukraine as well as the mpox outbreak. 

   In 2023, the PHEMCE conducted threat horizon scans to assess emerging threats and associated risks to determine whether Requirements need to be updated. Importantly, because these activities drive many technical discussions across interagency partners, they included subject matter experts and decision-makers to ensure the enterprise is aligned on the PHEMCE's highest priorities. While the threat landscape analysis did not significantly shift the portfolio, the PHEMCE members recognized the importance of emerging pandemic threats to national security. Because these emerging pandemic threats pose risk to national security, the PHEMCE will take steps to recognize, assess, and prioritize them in addition to CBRN threats already in the PHEMCE mission. The PHEMCE also reviewed and made recommendations for four updated Requirements, which incorporate lessons learned from the COVID-19 and mpox responses, update the scenarios that drive Requirements setting, and update capabilities based on recent learnings to ensure the USG is prepared for the next public health emergency. 
   Additionally, the PHEMCE: 
    

• Expanded its membership to include the newly established White House OPPR as a PHEMCE co-chair to provide policy perspectives and ensure alignment between PHEMCE efforts and overall USG strategies and priorities for pandemic preparedness and biodefense.

• Initiated portfolio assessments to identify gaps in MCM preparedness, including for EIDs. While PHEMCE agencies have already been investing in EIDs, in 2024 and beyond PHEMCE will build on these efforts to conduct detailed appraisals of needs to address these threats across the MCM space.

• Developed strategies to address identified gaps and assess opportunities for continuous improvement. 
  In 2023, the PHEMCE took important steps to align and extend collaboration with SLTTs, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, the broader MCM community, and international partners. Outreach included engaging via public meetings, hosting webinars, and connecting with partners in topic-focused conversations. These efforts increased transparency into PHEMCE operations, collected lessons learned, and identified opportunities to improve collaboration. PHEMCE met with partners around the following topics: 

  • Increasing awareness around important emerging technologies, such as platform approaches and development pathways for threat agnostic products that should be on PHEMCE's horizon.

  • Understanding challenges SLTT partners face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic response and opportunities to transform as we prepare for future emergencies.

  • Sharing best practices with international partners on Requirements setting, prioritization, and stockpiling processes. 

  In parallel with these outreach efforts, the PHEMCE conducted thorough assessments of the MCM budget landscape and reviewed the contents of the SNS, incorporating feedback from industry, SLTT, and other partners.

• Provided recommendations to the HHS Secretary based on the best available evidence combined with situational awareness and field deployment realities. 
  The first two goals of the 2022 PHEMCE SIP highlighted how PHEMCE conducts day-to-day business, leveraging the best available evidence to coordinate, share information, and make recommendations that balance the evidence against real-world limitations. These recommendations are shared with the HHS Secretary through various venues, including: 
   

  • As part of the PHEMCE MYB, the PHEMCE outlined the near- and long-term priorities for MCM R&D, procurement, stockpiling, and replenishment. The MYB outlines funding priorities for HHS agencies to ensure the end-to-end MCM development cycle is efficient, innovative, and adaptive to emerging threats while accounting for budget limitations.

  • As part of a comprehensive SNS portfolio review, PHEMCE led the threat-based review of the SNS contents, taking stock of the portfolio of products, identifying gaps, and making recommendations. Such recommendations, captured in the MCMPR, account for updating the threat landscape and Requirements as needed, capturing advances in R&D and advanced product development, and feedback from relevant stakeholders.