Moderna to supply vaccines for 20 million to South Korea from April 2021: Cheong Wa Dae
Michael Contreras, a Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighter paramedic, holds a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination to be given to LAFD personnel at Station 4 in Los Angeles, California, USA, Dec. 28. EPA-Yonhap
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel. Capture from bginette.org
U.S. biotech company Moderna has agreed to provide enough coronavirus vaccine doses for 20 million people to South Korea starting in the second quarter of next year, Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday.
The agreement was reached in a videoconference between President Moon Jae-in and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, Monday, according to the presidential office.
The volume is double the amount the government had initially sought to secure from the American biotech firm. The time frame has also been sped up from the initial goal of receiving vaccines starting in the third quarter.
Moon told Bancel that he would like to sign an official deal within the year.
Bancel responded that closing the deal within the year was possible and promised the company would do its best to facilitate early provision, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
In total, the government will have secured vaccine doses for 56 million people if the Moderna deal is sealed, presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok said.
Moon and Bancel also agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in research and development between Moderna and Korea's state-run institute on infectious diseases.
The two also agreed to cooperate in the area of consignment production of vaccines by firms here. (Yonhap)