Editorial: Japan must push ahead with international effort to develop vaccines

May 6 , 2026

To state the obvious: no nation can cope with a pandemic all on its own. International cooperation is a must and Japan should be actively contributing to the development of vaccines in terms of funding and research. On April 28, Komeito submitted a proposal to the Japanese government calling for it to support the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a partnership of the private and public sectors to develop vaccines.

CEPI was founded in 2017 to defend against the scourge of infectious diseases. The coalition gained international recognition for its equitable distribution of the covid vaccine worldwide, emerging as a powerful force facilitating global health. Komeito has been a proponent of CEPI since its time as a member of Japan’s coalition government, leading to some $300 million in financial assistance to the coalition.

In Komeito’s latest proposal, the party is calling for a similar level of funding to CEPI over a five-year period from 2027. Granted, that support is clearly in the nation’s self-interest: to diminish the socioeconomic impact of another pandemic, it is imperative to respond to an epidemic as quickly as possible, it aligns closely with CEPI’s stated goal of developing, securing regulatory approval and ramping up large-scale production of vaccines within 100 days for the next covid-class pandemic.

It is equally imperative to improve our domestic infrastructure—from R&D to production and distribution—boosting Japan’s presence in the vaccination space. To achieve this, the government’s support must remain unwavering.

Another aspect that Komeito’s proposal seeks is to improve vaccine accessibility, particularly for the elderly and disabled—the demographic segments that are among the most vulnerable to infectious disease—who may also forgo vaccinations for economic reasons. Taken in their totality, these are measures that must be taken to enhance the health security of our nation.