Moderna Additional Contract for 20 Million Doses... Securing Up to 140 Million Vaccine Doses Next Year

Moderna vaccines are prepared at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] An additional 20 million doses of the Moderna vaccine will be introduced for COVID-19 vaccinations next year.

Kim Ki-nam, Head of the COVID-19 Vaccination Planning Team at the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Task Force, stated at the regular COVID-19 briefing on the afternoon of the 23rd, "We have signed a purchase contract for 20 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to be used for COVID-19 vaccinations in 2022," adding, "Including the already contracted 60 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, we have completed the purchase of a total of 80 million doses of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines needed for next year's vaccinations."

Previously, the government signed two purchase contracts for the Pfizer vaccine in August and November. Both contracts secured 30 million doses each, with an additional 'option' contract to procure another 30 million doses if necessary. This means 60 million doses have been secured, with the possibility of purchasing an additional 60 million doses depending on future circumstances. Thus, the total vaccines secured by our government for next year amount to 80 million doses plus an additional option of 60 million doses, totaling 140 million doses.

The Moderna vaccine contract for this year totals 40 million doses, of which 22.68 million doses have been introduced and are being used for the first to third doses. The remaining undelivered doses will be supplied in a staggered manner by the second quarter of next year, considering vaccine expiration dates and domestic vaccination schedules, as agreed with Moderna.

Currently, the Moderna vaccine is produced domestically by Samsung Biologics under a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) agreement with Moderna. They import and supply the active pharmaceutical ingredients (DS), then carry out filling, labeling, and other processes to produce the finished Moderna COVID-19 vaccine product (DP).

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