Society

Japan unveils COVID-19 vaccination plan

Jun 07 (NHK) - Japan's health ministry has laid out a plan designed to shorten the time needed to put coronavirus vaccines into practical use.

The plan seeks to speed up the whole process by simultaneously promoting both research and development of a vaccine and its production.

The health ministry has earmarked 50 billion yen, or about 455 million dollars, as subsidies to institutions involved in vaccine development in the proposed second supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.

The ministry has also earmarked about 1.3 billion dollars in the extra budget to encourage private companies to invest in production facilities.

It normally takes a few years to develop and mass produce a vaccine.

But the ministry's officials say they hope to reduce the time substantially.

Ministry officials have told the governing parties that they hope to start vaccinating the public for the coronavirus in the first half of next year.

To that end, the officials plan to help build production systems and facilitate approval of the vaccine.

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