South Korea as COVID-19 Vaccine Production Base
Global pharmaceutical companies are focusing on South Korea as a COVID-19 vaccine production base. At present, South Korea is producing the AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sputnik V vaccines. Novavax CEO Stanley Erck visited South Korea on April 26 in order to check out SK bioscience’s Novavax vaccine production facilities. SK bioscience is currently producing the AstraZeneca vaccine as well.
The CEO is scheduled to have a meeting with the South Korean government’s COVID-19 vaccine task force, too. The South Korean government already signed a contract with Novavax to bring in 40 million doses and half of it is scheduled to be imported in the second and third quarters. They are likely to discuss the supply schedule for the other half at the meeting.
They are likely to discuss the supply of raw and auxiliary materials at the meeting, too. Earlier, in February this year, the U.S. executive order for export control led to material undersupply and the Novavax vaccine production in South Korea almost came to a halt. Although the government announced this month that the problem was solved, the necessity of continuous management still remains.
In the meantime, former CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden recently mentioned South Korea’s plan to become a COVID-19 vaccine hub based on technology transfer from Pfizer, Moderna and so on and vaccine supply to Asian countries. The South Korean government recently announced the plan for the purpose of stable vaccine supply both at home and abroad.