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Health Minister Park Neung-hoo speaks during a government meeting on vaccine development for COVID-19 at the Westin Chosun Seoul hotel on Aug. 21. (Yonhap News)

As part of its response to COVID-19, the South Korean government plans to purchase enough vaccines for 30 million people, representing 60% of the population. The government intends to acquire the remaining doses in stages, depending on progress in vaccine development and on domestic and international demand.

Government leaders discussed measures for acquiring the COVID-19 vaccine in a cabinet meeting on Sept. 15, with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun presiding. The government had previously said it intends to purchase enough doses of the vaccine to inoculate at least 70% of the population. Im In-taek, director-general of public health industry policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, explained that the government will be buying doses to cover at least 60% of the population in advance.

Countries around the world are rushing to line up vaccines for the disease as the US, the UK, and four European partners (Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands) compete for vaccine supply contracts with global pharmaceutical companies. Given these circumstances, the South Korean government has decided it needs to lock in a certain number of doses.

The government plans to acquire 10 million doses of the vaccine from the COVAX Facility, a global mechanism for joint purchases and distribution of the vaccine, and to acquire 20 million more doses through negotiations with individual pharmaceutical firms. Toward that end, the government conveyed its intention to join the COVAX Facility on Aug. 31 and allocated 172.3 billion won (US$146.2 million) for the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) to use on advance purchase contracts (at a cost of US$3.5 per dose).

The government is negotiating directly with companies such as AstraZeneca, Novavax, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna to acquire the remaining 20 million vaccines. “We will select vaccines with competitive prices and safe delivery platforms after thoroughly reviewing their safety and effectiveness,” Im In-taek emphasized.

The KDCA plans to set up an action plan for vaccination that will detail prices and eligibility as early as October, following review by the agency’s vaccination advisory committee.

In a related story, the disease control authorities explained that the idea of inoculating the entire population against the flu — an idea strongly advocated by the opposition party — is not really necessary and probably not even feasible. “Influenza epidemics are controlled with a 50% rate of inoculation [among the public], and we already have enough doses for 57% of the populace. That’s higher than any other country,” said Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters.

“Influenza can be treated with antivirals and Tamiflu except for people in the high-risk group, and we’ve stockpiled more than 11 million doses of those antivirals. In addition, it takes five or six months to manufacture the vaccine,” Kwon added.

By Kwon Ji-dam, staff reporter

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