Moderna to expand Aug.-Sept. vaccine shipments to S. Korea

 U.S. drugmaker Moderna Inc. has notified South Korea that it will expand shipments of its COVID-19 vaccine to the country for August and September, after the shipment was sharply cut, the Seoul government said Tuesday.

The notification was made during a South Korean government delegation’s visit to the headquarters of Moderna in the United States. Earlier, Moderna notified Seoul that it plans to supply less than half of the 8.5 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine planned for August.

The pharmaceutical giant also said it will make utmost efforts to advance the delivery of vaccine scheduled for September, the delegation said.

Moderna has said it will fix the exact amount and delivery schedule of the vaccine by the end of this week, it added.

South Korea aims to administer the first doses to 36 million people, or 70 percent of its 52 million population, by September, with the goal of achieving herd immunity by November.

But the delay in the vaccine supply raises concerns that the country’s inoculation scheme for August and September may be hampered amid a recent flare-up in virus cases.

The disruption in Monderna vaccine supply has forced local authorities to switch to COVID-19 vaccine by U.S. drug giant Pfizer Inc. for some age groups.