 |
| In this file photo, a medical worker prepares a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Sumida ward, Tokyo. AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
South Korea has confirmed that Samsung Biologics is in discussions with Moderna to allow its COVID-19 vaccines produced at Samsung's domestic manufacturing facilities to be used in the country.
"The government has asked Moderna and Samsung Biologics several times for the Moderna vaccines bound for domestic use to be produced at Samsung Biologics' facilities. Despite the repeated requests, nothing has been decided yet," Lee Ki-il, senior official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, told reporters in a regular briefing, Wednesday.
Citing unnamed politicians at the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), The Korea Times reported in early August that "working-level discussions" had been underway with Moderna representatives on how the country could get more vaccines from the U.S. drugmaker, right after production of the vaccines starts at Samsung Biologics' manufacturing facilities in Songdo, Incheon.
Lee said that South Korea was hoping to receive "quite a large amount" of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines. Moderna has agreed to supply South Korea with 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with no timeline set.
"We are currently not reserving safety stock to allow vaccines to be delivered faster, which means that we do not have stock in storage for these types of shortfalls or delays," a Moderna spokesperson said.
Samsung Biologics plans to start mass-producing Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines at its domestic manufacturing facilities sometime within the third quarter of this year. These vaccines will be distributed to countries other than the United States, after getting approval from Moderna and passing qualification tests from the country's health ministry, he said.
Samsung Biologics is in the process of adding messenger RNA (mRNA) substance manufacturing capabilities to its Songdo plant, near the port city of Incheon, which will be ready for actual operations next year. This addition will give the Samsung affiliate the full ability to handle the large-scale manufacturing and storage of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the Korean government is trying to improve the total vaccination rate in the country. By last week, 29.27 million people ― or 57 percent of the country's total population ― had received their first shots and 15.7 million had been fully vaccinated, the health ministry said. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson and Moderna vaccines have been approved for shots to the public, with 14.6 million people getting Pfizer shots, followed by AstraZeneca and Moderna with 11 million and 2.36 million, respectively.
![[REVIEW] 'The ODD Of LOVE' concert: Taeyeon shows why she is among K-pop's top vocalists](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/e385d0918b054c1286a1cfaa3142439e.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'One Day Off' star Lee Na-young, director on creating subtle, feel-good series](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/796618f56a44402eabe81fe4530ab988.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
