MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2021) The United Kingdom and South Korea agreed to swap over one million of COVID-19 vaccine doses in order to boost the rollout over the fall-winter period, the UK Health Ministry said Wednesday.
"The UK and the Republic of Korea will share COVID-19 vaccine doses to mutually support the rollout of the lifesaving vaccine in each nation, the government has announced today," the statement said.
Under the swap deal, London will send over 1 million of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines that it has no immediate demand for to South Korea to assist with the country's ongoing vaccination campaign, the ministry stated. The first batch is expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
In turn, Seoul will return the same amount of doses to the UK before year-end to support London's booster program scheduled for the winter months, according to the ministry.
"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," Sajid Javid, the UK health minister, said in a statement.
The deal will also not affect the UK's existing COVAX commitments, the minister noted.
In early September, the UK signed a similar vaccine swap deal with Australia.
Currently, almost 90% of the UK population aged over 16 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while nearly 70% have received both. South Korea aims to hit the target of fully vaccinating 70% of its adult population by the end of October.
