The government announced today (12th) that it has decided to donate 1.1 million doses and 470,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam and Thailand, respectively, to respond to COVID-19.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Accident Control Headquarters, and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced in a joint press release today, "As a responsible member of the international community, we are promoting the donation of vaccines to participate in global efforts to respond to COVID-19."
This is the first time that Korea directly supplies a vaccine to a specific country, and the vaccines donated to Vietnam and Thailand are scheduled to depart from Incheon today (12th) and arrive in both countries tomorrow (13th).
A government official said, "The domestic primary vaccination rate is 77.9% of the total population. “The decision was made after comprehensive consideration of the countries’ requests for support, securing the safety of Korean citizens living abroad, the New Southern Policy, and the damage situation caused by COVID-19.”
Vietnam, home to about 156,000 Koreans living abroad, is a key partner country for the New Southern Policy with more than 9,000 Korean companies operating.
At the Korea-Vietnam summit in September, our side promised Vietnam to provide more than 1 million doses of vaccines.
In addition, Thailand, home to some 18,000 Koreans living abroad, is a key partner country for the New Southern Policy, where about 400 Korean companies have entered. I have decided to go out.
A government official said, "We plan to review additional support for countries that need vaccine support while monitoring the domestic vaccine supply and demand situation."
An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "There are a lot of requests for assistance from countries that are having difficulties in obtaining a vaccine."