THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
June 5, 2020 at 15:50 JST
Health minister Katsunobu Kato, far right, inspects a polymerase chain reaction testing center in Tokyo. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
As companies race to find a novel coronavirus vaccine, an effort to ensure it will be quickly mass-produced once developed will be conducted at the same time.
Health minister Katsunobu Kato said at a June 5 news conference that waiting for the development of a vaccine before starting to create a production structure would delay offering it to the public.
“We will make every effort to provide the vaccine to the public as soon as possible,” Kato said.
That means starting a parallel track preparation of a production structure along with the development of a vaccine, he said.
Kato indicated that if successfully developed, the vaccine could be given to the public from the first half of 2021.
The health ministry plans to select a number of candidate vaccines being developed and set up production structures at the same time as research continues to confirm their effectiveness and safety. The ministry has included an item in the second supplementary budget setting aside 137.7 billion yen ($1.3 billion) to support creation of the manufacturing structure for the vaccine.
It is highly unusual to begin setting up a mass-production structure while there is still uncertainty about whether a vaccine will be successfully developed. But the parallel-track measure is being pushed so that the vaccine can reach the public almost as soon as it has been developed.
The government is providing support for production because of the high financial risk that the companies are taking in developing a vaccine.
While 10 billion yen was set aside in the first supplementary budget approved in late April to support research and development of a coronavirus vaccine, another 50 billion yen has also been included in the second supplementary budget that will be deliberated in the Diet from next week.
A number of research projects have already begun in Japan. The World Health Organization said about 150 vaccine development projects are proceeding around the world.
Ten of those projects have moved to a clinical testing stage for safety and effectiveness in humans, but no Japanese project has progressed as far.
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