The government said Thursday that it would provide various support for companies to develop at least one homegrown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine by 2023.
Next year, it will spend 526.5 billion won ($444 million) to help drugmakers conduct clinical and non-clinical studies while pre-purchasing homegrown Covid-19 vaccines.
Related government agencies made these and other decisions at the 11th meeting of the interagency supporting committee to develop Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, discussing specific steps and budgets for developing mRNA vaccine next year and after that.
Two vaccine developers -- Quratis and Eyegene -- are currently conducting phase 1 clinical trials of their mRNA vaccine candidates. To speed up the development, the government decided to promote a two-track strategy by using foreign technologies on the one hand and securing the original technology for developing domestic mRNA vaccines on the other.
Aside from the mRNA vaccine development plan, the government will also support six companies conducting phase 3 clinical trials of DNA, RNA, and Vector Covid-19 vaccines.
"The government will provide intensive support to help accelerate phase 3 clinical trials to commercialize Covid-19 vaccines early next year," Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol said. "It will contribute to overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic by supporting the development of treatments and vaccines and strengthen domestic health industry to lay the groundwork for future infectious diseases."
As of midnight Thursday, Korea has vaccinated 39,002,427 people – 11,090,824 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 20,892,000 with Pfizer's vaccine, 1,439,002 with Janssen's vaccine, 5,580,601 with Moderna's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 231,198 from the previous day. The figure accounts for 76 percent of the total population.
The additional reservation by unvaccinated people over 18 will end on Thursday. From Oct. 18, however, those who have not made reservations will be able to visit hospitals and receive leftover vaccines, depending on the number of stockpiles, said officials at the vaccination promotion team.
Also, the government issued a warning against those who use false Covid-19 vaccination certificates, which emerged as a social problem recently. Officials warned that people who provided fraudulent vaccination certificates for authentication or used someone else's could be punished according to relevant provisions of the criminal act.
According to the officials, people who use forged vaccination certificates to be exempted from private gathering limits could face up to 10 years of imprisonment.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed 2,564 new virus cases, including 2,539 local infections, raising the total caseload to 311,289. The country also saw seven more deaths from the virus, increasing total cases to 2,481 with a fatality rate of 0.8 percent.
The daily coronavirus cases remained in the 2,000s for the fifth day in a row Thursday in the aftermath of last week's extended holiday that has fueled a nationwide resurgence in virus infections.
Health authorities will likely extend the current distancing rules, the toughest in place for more than two months, for another couple of weeks.