| A medical official holds a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Quimper, western France, in this photo taken on June 29. AFP-Yonhap |
Moderna's production problem slashes August shipment to Korea
By Jun Ji-hye
Moderna will supply less than half of the vaccines planned for this month to Korea, causing concerns that the government's plan to speed up vaccinations in the third quarter could face a major setback.
This comes amid the ongoing fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely comprised of infections caused by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced Monday that the U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology company had notified officials here that it will supply less than half of the 8.5 million doses for this month due to problems at its labs related to vaccine production.
"Moderna said the problems were delaying its global vaccine supply and apologized, vowing to do its best to supply the vaccines that were promised," KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said during a press briefing.
The government signed a deal for 40 million doses from Moderna to cover complete vaccination for 20 million people. The company sent 112,000 doses in the first half of the year, and an additional 2.34 million doses since July.
The KDCA said it will immediately lodge a complaint about the supply shortage with Moderna, and dispatch a delegation led by Vice Health Minister Kang Do-tae to urge the company to come up with ways to promptly supply the vaccine.
The supply shortage has already appeared to have affected the country's vaccination plan for August and September as the government decided to readjust the gap between the first and second doses of mRNA vaccines from the current four weeks to six weeks.
"Those who are scheduled to receive second doses of the mRNA vaccines will be given them six weeks after the first dose, starting Aug. 16," Jeong said. "This measure will be applied temporarily. The four-week gap will be maintained for high school seniors and other applicants for the College Scholastic Ability Test as well as high school teachers, so there is no setback in the test schedule."
Teachers working at kindergartens and elementary and middle schools will receive their second shots after a five-week gap so they can be vaccinated ahead of the beginning of the fall semester.
| Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong speaks during a media briefing at the KDCA office in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Monday. Yonhap |
The government has "secured" about 190 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen and Novavax.
It is aiming to administer shots to about 70 percent of the country's 52 million population by September and to achieve herd immunity by November.
The KDCA said 40.8 percent of the entire population had received at least their first shot as of Sunday.
President Moon Jae-in said Monday that the government would seek to move up the timing of achieving herd immunity despite the unstable supply of vaccines.
"We cannot decide on the supply of vaccines on our own because we have relied on a few foreign pharmaceutical companies, but we will make the most use of the vaccines we have secured, and advance the timing of achieving our goal," Moon said during a meeting with senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae.
"The unstable supply of vaccines is a serious problem worldwide. We will need to speed up domestic vaccine development and make every effort to become a global vaccine production hub."