COVID-19 vaccine likely to arrive in North Korea in second half of this year

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, speaks to Jo Yong-won, left, secretary for organizational affairs of the central committee of the Workers' Party, during a performance by the art groups of servicemen's families from the Korean People's Army at the Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang, Wednesday. All spectators, excluding Kim, his wife Ri Sol-ju and a handful of high ranking officials, wore face mask while watching the performance. Yonhap

By Kwon Mee-yoo

North Korea is expected to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the second half of the year through international vaccine organizations, to help it deal with the ongoing pandemic.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), Edwin Salvador, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Pyongyang, said the organization will cooperate with the North to comply with the technical requirements to obtain the vaccines.

The Global Vaccine Alliance, or Gavi, gave confirmation of this to the RFA, adding that delivery would be dependent on the supply situation worldwide. It also mentioned North Korea's lack of "technical preparedness" as reasons for any delay in the shipment of vaccines in addition to the global supply shortage.

North Korea is a member of the COVAX Facility ― the global vaccine distribution program led by the WHO and Gavi ― which assigned 1.99 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Pyongyang.

The first batch of 1.7 million was expected to be sent from the Serum Institute of India, which manufactures the AstraZeneca vaccine, by May, but the delivery is expected to be delayed after India prioritized domestic needs due to a second wave of the coronavirus that seriously impacted the country.

"The North has to meet technical preparation standards such as having an inoculation plan with an order of priority, and organized transportation details before receiving the vaccine," an official from South Korea's Ministry of Unification said in reference to the delay in providing vaccines to North Korea.

Pyongyang has continued to claim that it has had no confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, but it has taken extreme measures against the pandemic since early last year such as completely closing all of its borders.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a performance given by arts groups comprised of family members of servicemen from the People's Army at the Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang, Wednesday. All the spectators, excluding Kim, his wife Ri Sol-ju and a handful of high ranking officials, wore face masks while watching the show.

Amid the supply delay, North Korea's official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, reported earlier this week that the COVID-19 vaccine was "far from a panacea" and urged its people to brace for a fight against the protracted pandemic.

"Some vaccines, which had been considered highly effective, caused severe side effects, including even death, leading many countries to stop their use. A person can be infected with the coronavirus even after getting vaccinated," the paper wrote.