Anthrax Vaccine Budget at 2.6 Billion Won, Ebola at Zero: Stockpiling Budget Threatens Vaccine Sovereignty

The government’s long-term stockpiling plan for biological terrorism preparedness is stalled by budget cuts. The budget for purchasing domestically produced anthrax vaccines next year was only about 2.6 billion won, while funding to secure Ebola treatments was cut in full.

According to information reported to Baek Jong-heon, the People Power Party’s ranking member on the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the 2027 government budget proposal includes 2.625 billion won to purchase domestically produced anthrax vaccines. That amount would not be enough even to cover doses for all first responders deployed in the event of a biological terrorist attack, including police, firefighters, military personnel and medical staff.

Some funding for Ebola treatment purchases was included in the 2026 budget, but none was included in the 2027 budget proposal. Critics say the government added the products to its stockpile list, allocated funding only as a one-time initial measure and then effectively abandoned the effort.

This budget is at odds with the government’s own long-term plan. In April 2025, the government established the Second National Strategic Plan for Stockpiling (2025-2029), identifying stockpiling domestically produced anthrax vaccines and expanding stocks of treatments and vaccines for high-risk infectious diseases, including Ebola, as key priorities. Yet just over a year after the plan was drawn up, those priorities have been pushed aside in the budget proposal.

South Korea’s anthrax vaccine is Baritracks, the country’s 39th domestically developed novel drug, developed by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and GC Biopharma after 28 years of research and development. It was the first to be commercialized worldwide using recombinant genetic technology. After receiving product approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in April 2025, it established a production and distribution system at a plant in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province.

Anthrax is a pathogen classified as a Class 1 infectious disease under South Korea’s legal framework. When dispersed in the air as spores, it has a fatality rate exceeding 90%. The 2022 Defense White Paper assessed that North Korea has the ability to cultivate and produce biological weapons, including anthrax, smallpox and plague. Ebola virus is also a highest-tier high-risk pathogen, with a fatality rate of up to 50%.

The pharmaceutical and biotech industries believe the situation will have a negative impact on efforts to secure vaccine sovereignty and on the ecosystem for essential public medicines. There is virtually no private market for vaccines and treatments used against biological weapons and high-risk infectious diseases, making the government the sole buyer. Even if a pharmaceutical company succeeds in domestic production after investing heavily, reduced government purchases due to budget constraints can make it difficult to cover even the cost of maintaining production facilities.

GC Biopharma has prepared to supply government stockpiles by establishing facilities for large-scale annual production, but critics say a budget in the mid-2-billion-won range would make it difficult to operate the facilities efficiently. The United States supports pharmaceutical companies through long-term procurement contracts covering everything from development to purchases for national stockpiles via the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). In contrast, critics say domestic procurement is subject to annual budget reviews, shifting risk to companies.

Poor management of stockpiled supplies is also a concern. Over the past three years, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency disposed of antiviral drugs that had expired, totaling enough for 3.578 million people and worth 56.57 billion won at the time of purchase. Because a system for rotating supplies before their expiration dates has not worked properly, the stockpile fulfillment rate has fallen to the low 70% range relative to the target.

Critics say inefficiency and administrative gaps coexist: hundreds of billions of won worth of medicines are discarded after expiration, while budgets for essential vaccines and treatments are cut in full or set at low levels. Calls are expected to grow during the regular National Assembly session’s budget review for increased funding for infectious disease stockpiles and a return to normal procurement practices.

However, even if the budget is increased somewhat during National Assembly deliberations, annual budget cuts and procurement uncertainty are likely to recur without fundamental institutional reforms. Critics warn that gains in vaccine self-sufficiency could be lost unless institutional changes are made first, including introducing multiyear, long-term purchase contracts to overcome the limits of annual budgeting and updating drug pricing and stockpiling standards.