Japan is late bloomer in race to develop COVID vaccine
Researchers say Japan’s slow development of a vaccine against COVID-19 is linked to decades of stagnant public funding for universities resulting from government slashing overall higher education and research budgets to cope with dwindling national revenue.
But the pandemic reversed the situation last year when government grants were expanded to support new projects that are collaborations between universities and drug companies.
“Japan is a late bloomer in the fight to develop a domestic vaccine. But with new public grants extended to researchers, there are breakthroughs for a domestic product that will improve the safety and efficiency of currently available vaccines,” explained Dr Naoto Uemura, head of clinical pharmacology at Oita University Hospital.