Securing 30 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

Prosecutor Numbers Halved Over Two Weeks

On the morning of the 15th, a Cabinet meeting is being held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy reporters Sojeong Seo and Hyunui Cho] The government is set to secure COVID-19 vaccines sufficient for 30 million of our citizens. Initially, it will secure doses for 10 million people through the multinational coalition COVAX Facility (COVAX), and plans to acquire an additional 20 million doses through negotiations with global companies.

On the 15th, the government announced this vaccine procurement plan regarding the 'COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction Plan' at the Cabinet meeting presided over by the Prime Minister. First, the government will secure vaccines for 10 million people (20 million doses) by participating in COVAX. COVAX is a multinational coalition led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, aiming to equitably supply vaccines to 20% of the global population by the end of 2021. The remaining 20 million doses (40 million doses) will be secured through advance purchase agreements with global companies.

Meanwhile, the number of new confirmed cases on the day was recorded at 106. Although the target of entering double digits set by the quarantine authorities was not met, it is notable that the number of COVID-19 tests conducted domestically has halved over the past two weeks. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the number of COVID-19 tests has steadily decreased since recording 58,021 tests on the 30th of last month, when enhanced social distancing level 2 (level 2.5) was introduced in the metropolitan area, dropping to around 20,000 tests on this day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.