SEOUL – South Korea has signed deals with two global drugmakers, Janssen and Pfizer, to purchase Covid-19 vaccines, with a plan to start vaccinations in the second quarter of next year, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said today.
Under the contracts, it will bring in six million doses from Janssen and 10 million from Pfizer, Chung said during an interagency meeting on the Covid-19 pandemic response, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Initially, South Korea had planned to introduce two million doses of Janssen's vaccine. The government is scheduled to start offering shots of the vaccine in the second quarter of next year, he added.
The purchased doses of Pfizer's vaccine are scheduled to start arriving in South Korea in the third quarter of 2021, but the government is mobilising all its resources to advance the shipment to the second quarter, Chung said.
The announcement comes amid growing criticism here over the Moon Jae-in administration's vaccine procurement programme. Critics argued that South Korea is lagging behind other nations in securing the supply of vaccines due to Moon's "miscalculation" of the situation.
Chung said: "The government will pay thorough attention to make sure that the public can be vaccinated as soon as possible, without any anxiety, while carefully studying the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines administered (overseas)." – Bernama, December 24, 2020
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