May 22, 2020, SEOUL, South Korea – The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) invited French Ambassador to Korea, Philippe Lefort, to IVI’s headquarters in Seoul, Korea today to share ongoing research and development on COVID-19.

His Excellency Philippe Lefort, French Ambassador to Korea (left), and Dr Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI (right), meet at IVI Headquarters wearing face masks to practice physical distancing best practices for preventing COVID-19
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January of this year, IVI has been actively coordinating with global partners to develop vaccine candidates, accelerate vaccine clinical trial timelines, and build capacity in resource-limited settings to effectively respond to outbreaks.
Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI, presented IVI’s unique capabilities at all steps of the vaccine development process, from pre-clinical R&D to WHO pre-qualification through delivery. In addition to the importance of rapidly developing a safe and effective vaccine to stop the pandemic, Dr Kim underscored the importance of making such a vaccine readily accessible to all people across all countries.
His Excellency Philippe Lefort congratulated the IVI team for their contributions to the fight against emerging diseases, and particularly against COVID-19. He noted that the work IVI has accomplished so far exemplifies the usefulness of international health governance and emphasized that the answer to a pandemic must be global effort.

His Excellency Philippe Lefort addresses IVI and offers congratulations for ongoing progress on controlling the COVID-19 pandemic
IVI’s response to COVID-19
IVI’s COVID-19 activities include conducting a Phase I/II clinical trial of INOVIO’s COVID-19 DNA vaccine in South Korea in partnership with INOVIO and the Korea National Institute of Health; developing a DNA vaccine with a consortium of six organizations led by Genexine; collaborating with VIDO-InterVac to investigate immune responses; and leading COVID-19 disease burden studies in Madagascar and Burkina Faso, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, as well as in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam with support from the German Federal Ministry of Health through re-directed project funding. Read more about IVI’s COVID-19 response here.
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About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a nonprofit inter-governmental organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, IVI was the first international organization hosted by Korea. IVI has 35 signatory countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) on its treaty, including Korea, Sweden and India as state funders.
Our mandate is to make vaccines available and accessible for the world’s most vulnerable people. We focus on infectious diseases of global health importance such as cholera, typhoid, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, Group A Strep, Hepatitis A, HPV, TB, HIV, MERS, COVID-19, as well as antimicrobial resistance. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int
CONTACT
Aerie Em, Global Communications & Media Specialist
+82 2 881 1386 | aerie.em@ivi.int