[Breaking] Authorities: "Pfizer-BioNTech to provide vaccines limited to national level... Careful verification needed on Daegu introduction rumors"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] Authorities have stated that careful verification is needed regarding media reports that Daegu City is independently pursuing the procurement of 30 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 prevention, separate from the government's introduction plan.

On the 1st, Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, said in a background briefing, "A foreign trading company in Daegu has proposed supplying tens of millions of doses produced by BioNTech, but this is not a proposal from Pfizer or BioNTech," adding, "We have requested Pfizer to verify the authenticity of the products and are currently confirming."

Additionally, Son stated, "We believe that only Pfizer contracts vaccine supply with the Korean government," and raised doubts, saying, "Pfizer and BioNTech are currently supplying vaccines only to national-level entities or supranational organizations like COVAX, so it is necessary to verify how a private trading company could possess the products."

On the same day, Pfizer Korea promptly issued an official statement saying, "We have not approved this."

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