Shin Hyun-young Proposes Amendment for Advance Purchase of Vaccines in Development During Infectious Disease Outbreaks

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] On the 29th, Shin Hyun-young, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, proposed a revision to the Infectious Disease Prevention Act to allow the pre-purchase of vaccines or medicines still in the development stage during an infectious disease pandemic. The bill also includes a provision granting immunity to responsible public officials, enabling them to actively proceed with vaccine purchases without fear.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Representative Shin introduced the "Partial Amendment to the Act on the Prevention and Management of Infectious Diseases" containing these provisions. Regarding the purpose of the bill, she explained, "As revealed during the purchase process of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, it is difficult to allocate or execute budgets for pre-purchasing vaccines that have not yet been developed under the current regulations."

The bill establishes a special provision allowing the Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency to enter into contracts necessary for the purchase and supply of vaccines or medicines under development if it is judged difficult to respond with existing vaccines and treatments during an infectious disease pandemic.

Additionally, it includes an immunity clause ensuring that public officials who perform related duties proactively without intentional or gross negligence will not face adverse disciplinary actions.

The bill also aims to accelerate contracts for COVID-19 vaccines. Representative Shin created a supplementary provision applying the amendment retroactively to contracts concluded before the enforcement of the amendment, enabling active execution of ongoing COVID-19 vaccine purchase contracts.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.