The authors examine how the Department of Defense (DoD) COVID-19 vaccination program was implemented, determine how previous DoD vaccination programs influenced those decisions, and identify opportunities to strengthen DoD's vaccination program.

The importance of global health to U.S. national security was brought into sharp relief when the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic expanded exponentially in 2020 and inflicted serious and prolonged harm to the world's populations, economies, and political systems. For many national security experts, this recognition of global health's importance coincided with a belief in the value of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) global health engagement (GHE), which encompasses a range of sometimes overlapping activities in the areas of force protection; humanitarian assistance and foreign disaster relief; nuclear, chemical, and biological defense; and building partner capacity and interoperability. However, DoD is constrained in its ability to conduct GHE activities by limitations in the way the department, as a whole, organizes, manages, and resources GHE activities and develops its workforce for GHE. Using a systematic review of the GHE literature, discussions with more than 80 subject-matter experts and officials, a review of materials from nearly 70 GHE-relevant blocks of instruction, and two GHE stakeholder workshops, the authors developed key findings and policy recommendations with respect to target student populations, GHE competencies, professional development pathways, GHE courses and course providers, and instructional strategies. In addition, they developed a concept for integrating the major GHE education and training (E&T) components and a prioritized framework for implementing the policy recommendations. This report should be of interest to members of DoD's GHE community, as well as officials and policy analysts in the larger DoD medical/health and security cooperation communities.

The authors identify the evolving global health engagement (GHE) priorities of five of the six geographic commands and the challenges they face supporting their combatant command objectives with current funding sources for GHE activities.

The authors assess the technology and process requirements to support the life cycle of global health engagement (GHE) activities and assessments--from planning to evaluation--and the information- and knowledge-sharing needs of the GHE community.

"The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic that began in late 2019 and continues as of the writing of this Perspective in summer 2022 has been the cause of both tremendous tragedy-in lives lost and economic hardship-and great triumph in the rapid development of effective vaccines. Many nations around the world have scrambled to respond to a once-in-a-century event that has exposed many weaknesses in response planning and capabilities, including those of the United States. Even as the pandemic continues, it is not too early to reflect on the missteps that have been made and lessons that can be learned so that the United States and nations worldwide can be better prepared for the future. This volume contains a collection of essays that explores topics of critical importance toward that aim and identifies actions that can be taken to not only improve pandemic preparedness but also help prevent the occurrence of future pandemics. The essays center on U.S. challenges and experiences, but the solutions, in many cases, require collaborative efforts that reach across national boundaries."--