1,303,000 Doses of Moderna Vaccine Arrive Tomorrow... "No Impact on Annual Vaccination Even if Novavax Supply Is Delayed"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The 1,303,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine contracted with the U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna are scheduled to arrive in South Korea tomorrow.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team announced on the 6th that 1,303,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will arrive at Incheon International Airport on the 7th via air transport.

This vaccine is part of the 40 million doses directly contracted, and so far, a total of 1,152,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been delivered.

With the arrival of 1,303,000 doses on the 7th, a total of 2,455,000 doses will have been delivered. Currently, the total amount of vaccines supplied domestically is 33.79 million doses.

Kwon Jun-wook, the 2nd Deputy Head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, explained, "From August 1 to 7, 7,388,000 doses will be delivered, and overall, about 28.6 million doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines are expected to be delivered in August."

The government has secured five types of vaccines, totaling approximately 193 million doses (for 100 million people). The quantities by pharmaceutical company are Pfizer 66 million doses (33 million people), Moderna and Novavax each 40 million doses (20 million people), AstraZeneca 20 million doses (10 million people), and Janssen 7 million doses. Separately, 1,012,800 doses of the Janssen vaccine were provided by the U.S. government.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, as the U.S. pharmaceutical company Novavax postponed its emergency use application for the COVID-19 vaccine to the fourth quarter, the government expressed confidence that delays in Novavax vaccine supply will not affect domestic vaccinations in the third and fourth quarters.

Hong Jeong-ik, head of the Vaccination Management Team at the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, said, "There are a total of five types of vaccines scheduled for domestic introduction, totaling 193 million doses. Regarding whether the vaccine supply is sufficient from the first to the second dose in the ongoing third-quarter vaccinations, the issue is only about the timing of supply, not the quantity, so please understand that there is no problem with the supply volume."

Hong emphasized, "Novavax was supposed to provide 40 million doses (for 20 million people), but considering the population, we have vaccines for 100 million people. Even if 20 million doses of the Novavax vaccine do not arrive immediately, there will be no disruption to vaccinations in the fourth quarter."

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