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SEOUL: South Korea will ensure early supply of the new coronavirus vaccines for 30 million people, or 60 percent of its population, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday (September 14). ).
While authorities would like to vaccinate the country’s total population of 52 million, uncertainties surrounding the vaccine’s safety, efficacy and development were limiting South Korean investment, Chung said.
READ: COVID-19: South Korea eases social distancing for two weeks before major holidays
Chung said the government will negotiate with relevant international organizations and vaccine manufacturers to ensure the early supply of COVID-19 vaccines and will buy more as development progresses.
In August, South Korea said it planned to join the COVAX facility, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) that aims to help buy and distribute injections fairly. .
South Korea will buy 20 million doses of COVAX vaccines, available to 10 million people, and 40 million doses from private pharmacists, health authorities said in a statement.
The government has prepared 172 billion won ($ 146 million) to pay for vaccines, including $ 70 million for the 20 million doses from the COVAX facility.
“We will prepare to ensure the safest and most proven vaccines from now on to inoculate as many as possible,” an official from the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA), Kwon Jun-wook, said at a Informative session.
South Korea has been one of the world’s coronavirus mitigation success stories, with an aggressive testing and tracing strategy, but has nevertheless been battling persistent spikes in infections.
The KDCA reported 106 new coronavirus cases as of Monday, bringing its total number of infections to 22,391 with 367 deaths.
South Korea’s SK Bioscience agreed in July to manufacture AstraZeneca’s experimental vaccine, which has shown promise against coronavirus, to help the British company build global supplies.
Novavax Inc said separately last month that SK Bioscience, a unit of SK Chemicals, would manufacture a component of the US drug developer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine in a bid to increase its supply.
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