Government Donates 1.1 Million and 470,000 Doses of AZ Vaccine to Vietnam and Thailand Respectively... First Overseas Donation

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The government will donate COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam and Thailand. This is the first time that Korea has directly supplied vaccines to specific countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced in a joint press release on the 12th that "we have decided to donate 1.1 million doses of AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine to Vietnam and 470,000 doses to Thailand, both of which are struggling due to the pandemic spread."

The vaccines are scheduled to depart from Incheon on the 12th and arrive in the two countries on the 13th.

This vaccine donation was decided after comprehensively considering requests for support from countries facing difficulties securing COVID-19 vaccines, the safety of our overseas nationals, the New Southern Policy, and the COVID-19 damage situation.

Vietnam is a key partner country in the New Southern Policy, with about 156,000 overseas Koreans residing there and around 9,000 Korean companies operating. During the Korea-Vietnam summit held on the occasion of the UN General Assembly last September, Korea promised to support Vietnam, which has a relatively low vaccination rate, with more than 1 million doses of vaccines.

Thailand has about 18,000 overseas Koreans residing and about 400 Korean companies operating. During the visit of the Foreign Minister to the Thai Prime Minister in August, both countries agreed to explore possible measures related to vaccine development and production cooperation.

The government stated, "We expect this donation to contribute to the speedy return to daily life for the people of both countries, and we will consider additional support for countries in need of vaccines in the future, depending on the domestic vaccine supply and vaccination situation."

Meanwhile, as of midnight on the 12th, the domestic first-dose vaccination rate was 77.9% of the total population (over 90% of the population aged 18 and over), and it was judged that the currently imported (and scheduled) vaccine quantities would not disrupt the planned schedule for second and additional doses.

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