CDC Science Agenda for COVID-19

Within these topic areas, 15 priority public health science questions relate to the broad scope of CDC's scientific work, both in the United States and globally, including public health surveillance, epidemiologic research, implementation science, and evaluation. These questions also relate to ongoing work in the broader scientific community (such as other government agencies, academics, the private sector). Other relevant questions are found in the complementary science agendas of other federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH)external icon , the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)external icon , the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)external icon , and the White Houseexternal icon . This Science Agenda is intended to inform efforts by the broader public health research community. It is used to help direct and monitor CDC's scientific activities but is not a commitment by CDC to address every question.

Importantly, these questions also serve to expand the evidence base to accelerate progress toward reducing COVID-19 health disparities and achieving health equity in prevention, testing, treatment, and management of post-COVID conditions. Health disparities are differences in health among groups of people that are linked to social, economic, geographic, and/or environmental disadvantage (social determinants of health), and health equity is achieved when everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Our health equity priority question considers populations experiencing COVID-19-related health disparities including, but not limited to: age, sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, underlying medical conditions (especially compromised immune status), education, occupation, place and type of residence (single versus congregate housing and urban versus rural settings), and other social determinants of health that may not necessarily fall within other priority questions. However, health equity science remains a fundamental consideration for all priority questions, and there is some overlap in health equity science activities across questions.

Two priority questions were added in March 2022 to address research gaps in evaluating equitable access to treatments for COVID-19 and the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments in improving outcomes from COVID-19, post-COVID conditions, and other conditions unrelated to COVID-19.

Key activities of public health importance that fall within the question domain are noted under each question.