Updated December 7, 2021
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Office of Science (OS) issues this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) under the provisions of FAR 35.016 and FAR 6.102(d)(2) which provides for the competitive selection of research proposals. Contracts that are awarded based on responses to this BAA are as a result of full and open competition and therefore in full compliance with the provisions of PL 98-369, “The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.” The CDC may award contracts with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, not for profit organizations, state and local government, and private industry for research and development (R&D) in those areas covered in Part II of this BAA. Within the meaning of FAR 6.102 and 35.016, this announcement constitutes the government’s solicitation for this effort. There will be no other solicitation issued in regard to this requirement. Offerors should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be posted on beta.SAM.gov.
For this announcement, CDC is requesting white papers for the following areas, which are further described below: Topic 1. Exploring best strategies to interrupt poliovirus transmission in outbreak-affected countries (CGH) 1.1. Modeling to inform effective polio outbreak response strategies Wild poliovirus type 2 was declared eradicated in 2015 and thereafter in April of 2016, routine immunization (RI) programs across the globe switched (“global switch”) from the trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (tOPV; contains types 1, 2, and 3) to the bivalent vaccine OPV (bOPV; contains types 1 and 3). In addition, a single dose of the trivalent inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) was introduced into routine immunization programs to provide protection against type 2 paralysis which does not lead to intestinal immunity necessary to stop virus transmission like OPV. A second dose is being introduced into routine immunization programs in OPV-using low and lower-middle income countries to increase the proportion protected. Outbreaks of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) result from use of OPV in underimmunized and unimmunized populations, permitting the vaccine virus to spread among susceptible individuals for prolonged periods, increasing the chance for the virus to revert and re-acquire the ability to cause paralysis. Despite intentions to boost type 2 intestinal immunity ahead of the global switch in 2016, pockets of susceptible children remained in countries with chronically low polio vaccination coverage. The increasing number of susceptible cohorts of infants without type 2 intestinal immunity increases the risk and spread of virus. As of 14 October 2021, cVDPV2 outbreaks have been detected in 19 countries, affecting 333 individuals. Responding to cVDPV2 outbreaks requires the use of monovalent Sabin strain oral poliovirus vaccine type 2 (mOPV2) in Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs) to quickly increase type 2 population intestinal immunity and halt the spread of the virus. When high quality SIAs are not achieved, the mOPV2 virus continues to spread unabated, increasing the potential for emergence of a new VDPV, and transmission of the originally detected cVDPV2 continues…
Topic 2. Public Health Communication Approaches to Increase Trust in Public Health Emergency Preparedness (CPR) 2.1 Public Health Communication Approaches to Increase Trust in Public Health Emergency Preparedness Public trust in science is of heightened importance during a public health emergency, which is further compounded by the need for clear, correct, and targeted messages to effectively garner public health trust. Johns Hopkins University surveyed 1,468 adults in the US and found that about half (54%) trusted science “a lot” with 46% split across other response categories (“some”, “not much”, and “not at all”). Public trust in science is essential when the risks and benefits of new policies and practices are not well understood because the public must rely on the decision-makers to make informed judgments, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the public may not adhere to mitigation strategies if they do not know, understand, or trust the evidence supporting the strategy. There are a number of plausible explanations for the decline in the trust of science including the politicization of scientific issues. CDC and other key stakeholders, including the public, would benefit from the development of evidence-based knowledge about the state of the public’s current knowledge of and attitudes towards public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) science. This evidence-based knowledge will allow us to develop effective strategies to establish and maintain public confidence and trust in PHEPR science…
Posted November 30, 2021
Notice ID: 75D301-22-R-72097
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) intends to issue Fiscal Year 2022 Broad Agency Announcements (BAA) for Applied Research to Address Emerging Public Health Priorities under Request for Proposal 75D301-21-R-72097…”
