This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: This is an ongoing event, as South Korea's infection rate is spiking, info in article is a year old. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(January 2023)
COVID-19 vaccination in South Korea
South Korea. Percentage with total doses given as of 9 November 2023.[1]
Date
26 February 2021 (2021-02-26) – 13 April 2023 (2023-04-13)
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Vaccines delivered per pharmaceutical company as of 19 December 2024 [refresh]
Pfizer-BioNTech (11,488,000) (46.10%)
Oxford-AstraZeneca (11,268,000) (45.22%)
Moderna (1,151,000) (4.62%)
Janssen (1,012,800) (4.06%)
As of 5 July 2021, due to vaccine shortages, the vaccination rate has been slowed down since 20 June. The vaccination rate remains 29% for more than two weeks.[3] According to JoongAng Ilbo, as of 5 July, the remaining amount of the COVID-19 vaccine is 1.8 million doses, including 1.4 million from Pfizer.[4]
On 6 July 2021, it is reported that South Korea has signed a deal with Israel to borrow 700,000 expiring doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine. South Korea will return the same amount of vaccines to Israel around September or October of this year.[4][5]
On 29 November 2021, President Moon Jae-in urged the rapid administration of booster shots against COVID-19, in response to an increased number of severe cases and deaths following the easing of anti-virus rules.[6]
Background
On 10 February 2021, South Korea granted its first approval of a COVID-19 vaccine to Oxford–AstraZeneca, allowing the two-shot regimen to be administered to all adults, including the elderly. The approval came with a warning, however, that consideration is needed when administering the vaccine to individuals over 65 years of age due to limited data from that demographic in clinical trials.[7][8]
On 14 April 2021, The additional 250,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived in the country.[9]
On 3 June 2021, the United States donated one million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine to South Korea. The United States initially announced to donate 550,000 doses to South Korean troops working in close contact with American forces.[10][11]
On 19 August 2021, Romania decided to donate 450,000 expiring Moderna vaccines to South Korea.[12]
AstraZeneca signed a deal with South Korea's SK Bioscience to manufacture its vaccine products. The collaboration calls for the SK Bioscience to manufacture AZD1222 for local and global markets.[24] The World Health Organization approved AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on February. The initial approval covers doses produced by AstraZeneca and South Korea's SK Bioscience.[25]
South Korea's Korus Pharm has formed a consortium to produce Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. the consortium will produce 500 million doses of the vaccine.[26] However, The Sputnik V doses manufactured in South Korea are not for domestic use.[27] The vaccine is to be exported to Russia and UAE.[28]
Novavax will license out its NVX-CoV2373 vaccine technology to SK Bioscience for contract manufacturing purposes. SK Bioscience will manufacture 40 million doses of Novavax vaccines.[29]
Vaccines in trial stage
On 9 November 2023, SK Bioscience submitted investigational new drug for GBP510 COVID-19 vaccine candidate to Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, for Phase III clinical trial. SK Bioscience plans its Phase III trial in form of comparative effectiveness clinical trial, targeting 4,000 people in South Korea.
^"코로나19 백신 및 예방접종: 안전하고, 신속하게 추진합니다" (Press release) (in Korean). Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
^"어제 1차 접종자 '0명'… 백신 부족에 접종속도 급격히 느려져" [Yesterday's 1st vaccination '0'... Vaccination rate is rapidly slowed]. Asian Economy. 5 July 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
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