As countries around the world have started vaccination against Corona 19, the Korean government has completed a contract for 36 million people.
The government emphasized that the pre-purchased vaccine will be brought to Korea sequentially from February to March next year, while discussions are continuing to accelerate the domestic supply period and secure additional supplies.
Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Defense Countermeasure Headquarters (Bang Dae-bon), said at a regular briefing on the 28th, "We have concluded a purchase contract for the COVID-19 vaccine, equivalent to 36 million doses, total 66 million doses" Revealed.
The government previously decided to secure a total of 46 million vaccines through multinational associations with overseas pharmaceutical companies.
First of all, the government signed an agreement with the COVAX facility, an international project for the joint purchase and distribution of vaccines, to receive supplies for 10 million people, and is discussing a specific supply schedule.
In the case of individual pharmaceutical companies, AstraZenekawa signed a vaccine contract for a total of 10 million people on the 27th of last month, and on the 23rd of this month, Janssen (for 6 million people) and Pfizer (for 10 million people) respectively completed supply contracts.
Modenawa is reviewing a contract to supply 10 million vaccines.
If the vaccines are supplied as planned, the vaccines from Kovacs Facility and AstraZeneca will be introduced in Korea from the first quarter of next year, and from the second and third quarters of Janssen and Pfizer, respectively.
Jung emphasized that the 46 million people the government decided to purchase accounted for 88% of the total population.
He said, "Including the purchase plan, the vaccine for 46 million people purchased by the government accounts for 88.8% of the total population of Korea, 5183 million people." "104.3% of the 44.1 million people over the age of 18 who are eligible for vaccination It corresponds to" he said.
He then explained, "Considering the academic opinion that 60-70% of the total population needs antibody formation for population immunity, this is a sufficient amount for the formation of domestic population immunity."
Following the U.K. and U.S., the corona19 vaccination was in full swing in European countries, and the government re-emphasized its position to proceed with the vaccine purchase and domestic introduction smoothly.
General Manager Jeong said, "We are continuing to discuss with individual pharmaceutical companies in order to accelerate the domestic supply period and secure additional quantities, taking into account the continued corona19 epidemic in Korea and the possibility of a shortage in supply due to increasing demand from countries around the world." It.
(Photo = Yonhap News)