Moscow Dec 24 (Sputnik)
South Korea has signed agreements with Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen and Pfizer pharmaceutical companies to purchase vaccines against the coronavirus for 16 million people, South Korea’s media reported on Thursday. The country will buy vaccines for 10 million people from Pfizer and 6 million from Janssen, the Yonhap news agency reported. South Korea has earlier signed a deal with AstraZeneca and wants to reach deals with Moderna and the World Health Organization’s global vaccine project of COVAX. The Asian nation plans to start the vaccination campaign in the second quarter of 2021.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 78.5 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 1.72 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU). South Korea has confirmed more than 52,000 coronavirus cases so far, with over 700 fatalities, JHU adds.