The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency will move to address limits in social distancing decisions and the medical response system that emerged during the COVID-19 response. It aims to reduce recurring confusion over agencies' roles during infectious disease crises and establish a new quarantine decision-making structure that also considers social expense.
The agency announced the "seven key initiatives for the second half of 2026" at a second-half ministry work briefing held at the Blue House state guesthouse on the 16th. Rather than rolling out a slate of new projects, the plan focuses on detailing the reorganization of the infectious disease response system pursued after COVID-19.
The most notable change is the overhaul of the infectious disease crisis response system. The agency will classify infectious disease situations into limited influx/transmission and pandemic types and prepare response systems for each, and it plans to integrate infectious disease bed management under its lead.
Currently, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency manages nationally designated inpatient treatment beds, while the Ministry of Health and Welfare manages emergency treatment beds. The agency plans to reorganize this into a central–regional hub–local–neighborhood infectious disease management institution system to build a medical response structure tailored to each crisis level. It will complete the reassignment of infectious disease management institutions by December and enact an "infectious disease crisis social response manual" in August.
In particular, it will also revise the decision-making process for quarantine policies such as social distancing, which was contentious during COVID-19.
Im Seung-gwan, head of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said at a pre-briefing the previous day, "There were aspects in which the uniform distancing policy that continued for a long time in 2020 and 2021 harmed self-employed people, small business owners and marginalized groups."
Accordingly, when deciding quarantine policy going forward, it plans to move away from discussions centered on infectious disease experts and create a structure in which experts in economics, society, labor, education and law participate together. Under the Infectious Disease Crisis Response Expert Committee, it will establish a quarantine and social response subcommittee to create a system that reviews scientific evidence and social impact together.
Existing projects for vaccine and treatment self-sufficiency will also speed up.
The COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine development project that entered phase 1 clinical trials in December last year will begin phase 2 in August. It aims to complete phase 3 and obtain approval in 2028.
Administrator Im said, "Based on the progress so far, we judge that the chances of success are high as planned," and added, "If a future pandemic occurs, we will be able to swiftly develop vaccines to protect people's lives."
Korea currently relies entirely on imports for COVID-19 vaccines. The agency expects that once a domestic mRNA Vaccine is developed, it will not only substitute for imports but also lay the groundwork to expand into other bio fields such as antibody treatments.
It will also push to build K-AI PPX, a Korea-style AI-based vaccine development platform. The system will support from pathogen analysis to antigen design and clinical entry, aiming to shorten vaccine development time when new infectious diseases emerge.
It will also prepare fixes for vaccine quality control issues flagged in a recent Board of Audit and Inspection review.
The agency, together with related bodies including the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety, will announce "measures to improve vaccine quality control and safe vaccination systems" in September.
Administrator Im explained, "When a quality issue occurs, it is important to build a system that does not miss reports and quickly shares information between institutions," and added, "We will also establish manufacturers' investigation deadlines and a framework for sharing interim results."
It also plans to clarify each agency's role, with the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety handling vaccine manufacturing and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency handling distribution, storage and vaccination.
It will also strengthen routine infectious disease management and responses to chronic diseases.
Aiming to eradicate malaria by 2030, the agency will strengthen surveillance in high-risk areas and early patient detection systems, and expand responses to antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE).
Administrator Im said, "In a super-aged society, antibiotic resistance is a critical threat that must be addressed," adding, "Government-wide cooperation is needed from a One Health perspective that includes not only humans but also animals and the environment."
Support for rare diseases will also be expanded. In areas without specialized rare disease institutions, regional hub institutions will be additionally designated, and the dependent obligor criteria in the medical expense support process will be phased out.
Hypertension and diabetes registration and education centers will be reorganized into "integrated chronic disease management centers," and the support target will be expanded from those aged 30 and older to all ages.
In addition, it will introduce AI-based disease control services. It plans to build tailored health reports for participants in the community health survey, automatic collection of overseas infectious disease information, an AI chatbot to support epidemiological investigations, and a system to detect infectious disease misinformation.
It will also prepare standard clinical guidelines for heat-related illness and conduct the "second climate health impact assessment" to respond to climate crises such as heat waves.
Administrator Im said, "Based on the COVID-19 experience, we will make the infectious disease crisis response system more sophisticated and strengthen our capabilities to localize vaccines and treatments."