Korea, China, and Japan Disease Control Agencies Share Information on Future Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development Following COVID-19

Disease Control Headquarters Attends the 16th Korea-China-Japan Infectious Disease Prevention Management Forum and Symposium

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 8th that it will participate remotely in the "16th Korea-China-Japan Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Forum and Joint Symposium" hosted by the China CDC.

The Korea-China-Japan Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Forum is a cooperative system established by the infectious disease control agencies of the three neighboring countries: Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), China CDC, and Japan National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), to minimize the risk of infectious disease transmission and to prepare for and respond to future infectious disease crises. Since 2007, the forum has been held annually in rotation among the three institutions.

So far, the three countries have closely shared information in response to infectious diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and influenza. They have also maintained a joint response system by establishing a hotline among the heads of the three agencies from the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak.

At this forum, discussions will be held on the impact of COVID-19 vaccines on the pandemic. Korea plans to share its approach on "Directions and Strategies for Vaccine Development Research in Preparation for Pandemics," including plans to establish a rapid vaccine development system to prepare for emerging infectious disease threats. Additionally, the current status of each country's surveillance, diagnostic testing, management, and prevention strategies for monkeypox will be shared, and cooperative measures for infectious disease control and response among neighboring countries will be explored.

Following this, the symposium will discuss topics of international importance for future zoonotic infectious disease responses, such as "Zoonotic Infectious Disease Management under the One Health Approach" and "Current Status of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases due to Climate Change." In particular, the KDCA will share experiences from the "Disease X Preparedness Simulation Exercise" conducted at the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) ministerial meeting held in Seoul from the 28th to 30th of last month, and discuss regional cooperation measures to prepare for future new and variant infectious diseases.

Baek Gyeong-ran, Commissioner of the KDCA, will hold bilateral meetings with Takaji Wakita, Director of Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Hongbing Shen, Director of China CDC who took office in July this year, to discuss seasonal influenza epidemic forecasting and post-Omicron response plans, management of rodent-borne hantavirus, and management of tick-borne severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome.