In early 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its unprecedented speed and scale of transmission, led to infections of hundreds of millions of people and millions of deaths worldwide. This crisis severely impacted health systems and economies globally, highlighting the need for Taiwan's epidemic technology research and development chain to be enhanced in response to changes in the global environment. The promotion of national vaccine self-production is a global trend, and Taiwan urgently needs to strengthen related infrastructure and establish a platform for integrating and collecting novel infectious disease pathogens and clinical specimens. This aims to increase the efficiency of response during epidemic outbreaks, avoid the dilemma of being unable to obtain externally purchased vaccines, and become a strong national epidemic defense. Additionally, this effort can provide international assistance in times of emergency.

Professor Huey-Kang Sytwu, President of the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI), stated, "The National Health Research Institutes is the only mission-oriented medical and health research institution in Taiwan. In order to protect the health and safety of Taiwanese people, we began planning the construction of the Bioproduction Plant 2 and the National Infectious Diseases Bank (NIDB) in 2020 at the direction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW). With the combined support of the government and the private sector, the new project was approved by the National Development Council in April 2021, and the groundbreaking ceremony was held at the NHRI’s Zhunan campus on the 12th."

Professor Huey-Kang Sytwu, President of the NHRI also mentioned, "Since the outbreak of COVID-19, various sectors of Taiwan's industry, academia, research, and medical communities have mobilized to develop epidemic-related rapid antigen tests, vaccines, and drugs. The NHRI's Bioproduction Plant and the Animal Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL-3) Laboratory have played crucial roles in these efforts. To quickly formulate effective prevention policies in the event of emerging infectious disease outbreaks in the future and provide references for the development of detection methods, drugs, and vaccines, the NHRI initiated the establishment of the NIDB. Collecting domestic infectious specimens, pathogens, and their derivatives for research on characteristics, drug resistance mechanisms, and genotypes. Representative strains are comprehensively preserved, creating various standard substances for the development of new drugs and treatment methods by industry, academia, research, and medical communities. NIDB also provides technical services such as pathogen gene sequencing and animal toxicity testing. It collaborates with foreign resource banks to introduce management models and import important pathogens that are not easily available domestically, ensuring the sustainable operation of NIDB and helping enhance Taiwan's development in biomedical technology."

The Bioproduction Plant 2 includes six production lines, two ABSL-3 laboratories, and the NIDB. The six production lines will operate independently, with two lines producing Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccines and antivenom serum, two lines increasing production capacity to the level of metric tons to meet the demand for new products for frontline epidemic prevention, and two lines producing new products for small-scale clinical trials. This comprehensive strengthens nucleic acid (DNA, mRNA), virus vector, recombinant protein, and inactivated whole virus vaccine-related technology platforms. It complements the collection of various pathogens and specimens from the NIDB to establish a "modular" standard process for vaccine development. Since the pathogens of emergency infectious diseases are mostly of Biosafety Level 3, sufficient ABSL-3 laboratories have also been added to ensure the smooth progress of vaccine development while protecting the safety of researchers.

Professor Huey-Kang Sytwu, President of the NHRI said, "The NHRI's Bioproduction Plant shoulders the responsibility of national security-level epidemic prevention. Since its operation in 2008, it has developed several human vaccines, including vaccines for Enterovirus 71, novel influenza H5N1, and H7N9. These vaccines meet national pharmaceutical regulations and have undergone clinical trials. It plays a key role in translating research and development results into intermediate products for the industry. The Enterovirus 71 vaccine, in particular, has guided the technology transfer company to obtain drug certification, marking an important milestone in the country's independent development of vaccines. In the future, with the goal of maintaining national security, NHRI will execute novel technology projects with low commercial value or difficult development tasks. It will strengthen its complementarity with the Epidemic Prevention Center of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC), build a complete epidemic prevention system, and integrate epidemic prevention and vaccine development tasks. By assisting the industry with the ability of process development, collaborating with the industry to enhance the Taiwan's self-production capability of biopharmaceuticals, making efforts to upgrade the nation's epidemic prevention capabilities together.”