Two leading scientific organisations based in Korea, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and International Vaccine Institute (IVI), are joining the world’s largest network dedicated to the standardised testing of epidemic and pandemic vaccines.
Set up by Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the network aims to accelerate the development of vaccines to respond more quickly to future outbreaks of viral threats in as little as 100 days. This includes potentially deadly infections like coronaviruses, pandemic influenza, and a novel or as-yet-identified ‘Disease X’.
Expanding CEPI’s Centralised Laboratory Network’s footprint to include sites in Korea could also help the region more quickly respond to an emerging local outbreak as time is not wasted shipping samples for testing to laboratories further afield.
As part of its broader policy priorities, the Korean government pledged during the June presidential election to expand joint research on infectious diseases, strengthen international cooperation in responding to public health crises, and enhance its infectious disease response systems.
