The Danish Minister for Health, H.E. Magnus Heunicke, visited the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health, today during his official visit to the Republic of Korea and announced that the Government of Denmark will contribute funding to IVI this year. The Honorable Minister was joined by a delegation from Denmark including Statens Serum Institut, International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions, and Aarhus University, and met with Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI, for a bilateral meeting and tour of IVI’s facilities.
As part of the Health Minister’s visit, the Embassy of Denmark in Korea and IVI co-organized a seminar to initiate discussion and coordinated action around vaccine solutions for pandemic preparedness and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The seminar featured presentations from the Danish delegation as well as IVI, Institut Pasteur Korea, and Seoul National University.
“It is our privilege to welcome H.E. Magnus Heunicke, Minister for Health of Denmark, to IVI during his official visit to Korea and share IVI’s work to advance innovative vaccine technology and ensure equity in global health. We are immensely grateful for the Danish government’s support, which will magnify our efforts in addressing emerging and neglected health threats, including the spread of AMR. Thank you also to the Embassy of Denmark in Seoul for co-hosting today’s dialogue on the role of vaccines in sustainable AMR solutions,” said Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI.
“Denmark is following the work of IVI closely, and we are very impressed with IVI’s mission to discover, develop and deliver safe, effective and affordable vaccines for global health. Covid-19 has shown us the importance of international cooperation in addressing cross-border health threats, and IVI is playing a very important role in ensuring global health. I am very happy to announce, that the Danish Government has allocated four million kroner in contribution to the important work at IVI in 2022. We look forward to the continued collaboration,” said H.E. Magnus Heunicke, Minister for Health.
The AMR, Infectious Diseases, and Vaccine Development seminar focused on the global AMR agenda, a One Health approach to infectious disease control, pandemic preparedness and lessons learned from COVID-19, and the research and development of new vaccines, featuring presentations from:
- Mr. Satyajit Sarkar, Research Scientist on AMR Policy & Advocacy, IVI
- Henrik Ullum, Exective Director, Statens Serum Institut
- Dr. Soojin Jang, Head of Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory, Institut Pasteur Korea
- Dr. Robert Skov, Scientific Director, International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions
- Prof.Yun Cheol Heui, Seoul National University
- Prof. Tina S. Dalgaard, Aarhus University
Today’s seminar was the third of its kind co-hosted by IVI, the Embassy of Denmark in Korea, and other partners. Past webinars include Evidence to Action: Advancing the Antimicrobial Resistance Agenda during a Pandemic (2020) and Curbing the Invisible Pandemic: Effective Solutions to Collectively Combat Antimicrobial Resistance (2021).
