Government to Invest 526.5 Billion KRW in COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Development Next Year

This Year’s Budget Doubled... 192 Billion KRW for Domestic Vaccine Pre-Purchase

2021 Budget Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The government will allocate a total budget of 526.5 billion KRW next year to support the development of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. This amount is more than double the current year's main budget. Nearly 200 billion KRW of this will be used for the advance purchase of domestically produced vaccines.

On the 30th, the government held the 11th meeting of the Pan-Governmental Support Committee for COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Development (hereafter Pan-Governmental Support Committee) to discuss the 2022 budget plan for supporting COVID-19 treatment and vaccine development. According to next year's budget plan, 321 billion KRW will be invested to ensure the success of clinical trials for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. With more than double the budget compared to this year, research support for clinical and non-clinical stages will be strengthened, and advance purchase of domestic vaccines will be promoted. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) will invest 192 billion KRW in the advance purchase of domestic vaccines.

A budget of 106.3 billion KRW is planned to support the establishment of experimental facilities and equipment to develop testing methods for treatments and vaccines and to build production infrastructure. For the development, advancement, and localization of next-generation infectious disease equipment and devices such as rapid diagnostics and intelligent devices, 30.2 billion KRW will be allocated. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will provide 13.1 billion KRW for infectious disease prevention technology development, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will support 15.1 billion KRW for the development of customized on-site quarantine supplies technology.

Additionally, 69 billion KRW has been allocated to strengthen basic research. This includes 16.9 billion KRW for new projects such as rapid universal, high value-added, and vaccine platform technologies by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and 12.3 billion KRW for supporting the development of new technology-based vaccine platforms by the KDCA.

The government also plans to establish a “National Preclinical Trial Support Center” to increase the clinical trial entry rate of companies developing treatments and vaccines. So far, the government has supported preclinical trials for development by forming the “COVID-19 Response Research and Development Support Council” to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of the end of August, 188 institutions have received support.

The government expects that if support is provided on a regular basis through the National Preclinical Trial Support Center, it will be able to respond more efficiently to new and mutated infectious diseases that may occur in the future. The center will operate as a comprehensive support center that integrates preclinical trials, which were previously supported individually using infrastructure from government-funded research institutes. Specialized institutions will be designated to operate support centers for each experimental stage. Furthermore, through the establishment of an integrated support system, the entire process from receiving research and development difficulties to completing support will be comprehensively managed, and information such as the status of preclinical trial support, progress schedules, and utilization of research facilities like BL3 will also be provided.

Minister Kwon Deok-cheol of the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated, “We will promote rapid clinical trials by providing pan-governmental focused support for phase 3 clinical trials to ensure that domestically produced COVID-19 vaccines can be commercialized in the first half of next year. The government will continue to support the development of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines to contribute to overcoming COVID-19 worldwide, as well as strengthen our health industry capabilities to prepare a foundation for future infectious diseases.”

Minister Lim Hye-sook of the Ministry of Science and ICT said, “In a situation where various variant viruses continue to emerge, the development of domestically produced COVID-19 treatments and vaccines is more important than ever. We will continue pan-governmental support for the prompt development of domestic treatments and vaccines, and also strengthen support for mid- to long-term research and development so that this development experience can serve as a foundation for proactive responses to unknown infectious diseases that may arise in the future.”

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