Moderna to provide vaccine doses for 20 mil. people in S. Korea Updated: 2020-12-29 10:46:15 KST

U.S. biotech company Moderna will provide enough vaccine doses for 20 million people in South Korea.
The agreement was reached during a video conference between President Moon Jae-in and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel.
For details, we have our presidential correspondent Kim Min-ji on the line.
Min-ji, fill us in.

Mark, Moderna will be providing 40 million doses of its vaccine to South Korea which is enough for 20 million people.
President Moon held a video call for about half an hour with Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel on Monday evening, Korea time.
That figure is double what South Korea was seeking to buy and distribution will also begin earlier than planned.
Here’s Seoul’s presidential spokesperson.

“The number of doses is double what South Korea was seeking to purchase from Moderna. We have also agreed to speed up distribution to start in the second quarter of next year rather than the third. The government and Moderna will be making further efforts to move up that timeline.”

The top office said that South Korea is aiming to complete the contract with Moderna before the end of the year so in the next few days.
If all goes according to plan, the country will have procured enough doses for 56 million people more than the country’s population.
The government so far has secured deals for vaccines for 36 million people from AstraZeneca, Janssen, Pfizer and the COVAX facility global vaccine supply platform.
That’s all I have for now, back to you Mark.