This year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo will set aside €500,000 for the new fund. CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) has set itself the target of making vaccines for emerging infectious diseases available more quickly, thereby limiting the risk of future pandemics. CEPI will ensure that the developed vaccines remain affordable for the poorest countries. The governments of Germany, Japan and Norway, together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Welcome Trust, and important private partners, have provided initial funding of $460 million. The desired target is to raise $1 billion together. Consequently, it will now be possible to develop between four and six vaccines for three priority infectious diseases over the period 2017-2021: the MERS coronavirus (Middle East Respiratory syndrome), Lassa fever (West Africa) and the Nipah virus (Bangladesh).