Government intends to simultaneously encourage research and production
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare has drawn up a plan to speed up the process until vaccines against the new coronavirus can be used in practice. The idea is to accelerate it by simultaneously encouraging both research and development and production.
The ministry has set aside about $ 455 million in grants for institutions involved in vaccine development as part of a second supplementary budget proposal for the current fiscal year.
The portfolio also set aside about $ 1.3 billion in extra funds to encourage private companies to invest in vaccine production units.
Health officials told government party representatives that they hope to start vaccinating the population against the new coronavirus in the first half of next year. While encouraging investment in production capacity, they also want to facilitate the vaccine approval process.
