Coronavirus: Florida scraps quarantine requirement for students exposed to Covid-19 – as it happened
South Korea is expected in the coming weeks to receive 1m doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine from the UK as part of a deal unveiled on Wednesday.
The swap, under the terms of which South Korea will reciprocate by sending 1m doses to the UK in December, follows a summit meeting on Monday between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and British prime minister Boris Johnson on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“By working closely with our friends in South Korea, this vaccine swap will maximise their rollout speed without having an impact on the UK’s vaccine programme,” said UK health secretary Sajid Javid.
The announcement follows a similar arrangement agreed between the UK and Australia last month.
Moon this week said his country is to send 1m doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam as South Korea seeks to strengthen ties with its fourth-largest trading partner.
The shipment to Vietnam next month will mark South Korea’s first direct commitment of Covid-19 vaccines to a foreign country. Seoul has focused on securing vaccine swaps after a sluggish start to its inoculation programme.
The two countries will be “expanding co-operation in future growth areas such as digital technology, biopharmaceuticals and finance”, Moon said at a summit with Vietnamese president Nguyen Xuan Phúc on Tuesday.
Moon has been engaged in a round of vaccine diplomacy during his visit to New York. He discussed with Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla potential co-operation to boost the vaccine manufacturing process.
South Korean companies have struggled to secure IP licensing deals with US pharma groups Pfizer and Moderna despite a broad vaccine partnership agreed in May by Moon and US president Joe Biden.
South Korea is keen to become a global vaccine manufacturing hub, with Moon’s administration promising Won2.2tn ($1.9bn) of state investment for development over the next five years.
Heralded for its initial response to containing Covid-19 infections, South Korea made a slow start to vaccinations. But it has benefited from a surge in recent months: 71.2 per cent of the population has received a single dose and 43.2 per cent are double vaccinated, local health authorities have said.