SEOUL: South Korea has arranged to buy coronavirus vaccines for 23 million more people, its prime minister said on Tuesday, a day after authorities decided to scale back initial vaccination plans, citing delays and efficacy concerns.
Preparing for an inoculation drive that is set to begin on Feb.26, South Korea had already secured supply agreements for enough doses for 56 million, though it has a population of 52 million.
But the vaccination programme is set to get off to a slower start, as some of the vaccines acquired have not yet proven sufficiently effective against new strains of COVID-19, while some manufacturers may not be able to deliver on time due to production problems.
To overcome those issues, South Korea has struck additional deals with Novavax Inc for enough vaccines to cover 20 million people and with Pfizer to cover a further 3 million, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, making the total supply enough to cover 79 million people.
“The government has been working…