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| President Moon Jae-in, center, poses with Samsung Biologics CEO John Rim, left and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel during a vaccine partnership event held between Korea and the United States at a hotel in Washington, D.C., May 22. Yonhap |
Samsung chief Lee cited as 'hidden contributor'
By Kim Yoo-chul
Moderna has approved the domestic use of its COVID-19 vaccines to be produced by its South Korean business partner Samsung Biologics, two sources directly involved with the matter said, Thursday.
While chances are low the mRNA-based biotech Moderna will let Samsung Biologics handle the total distribution process of its vaccines to be manufactured at Samsung's facility in Incheon's Songdo, Moderna's approval for the domestic use of its vaccines will be a huge plus in terms of backing Seoul's efforts to increase the local vaccination rate, and plans for initiating a round of booster shots for people in their 60s after their initial immunization, they said.
"The South Korean government's requests for Moderna vaccines to be produced at Samsung Biologics' Songdo facility for domestic use have been approved by Moderna. Samsung Biologics will distribute some 2.8 million doses of Moderna vaccines currently being stored at its domestic storage house once the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety completes qualification tests," one source said, Thursday.
Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in South Korea back in May, but commercial availability of Moderna vaccines manufactured in the country was subject to qualification tests by the drug safety ministry. The Moderna vaccines currently available here are all manufactured overseas.
Samsung Biologics, which manufactures Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines, said earlier it was aiming to mass-produce Moderna vaccines within the third quarter of this year. Officials said the Samsung affiliate was producing Moderna vaccines, most of which will be distributed to international markets other than the United States, in accordance with its previously announced schedule. Under their contract, Samsung Biologics is responsible to manage labeling and vaccine packaging processes.
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| In this file photo, Moderna vials sit on a table. AFP-Yonhap |
Another source said the government and Samsung Biologics were in discussions with Moderna's top management to secure more Moderna vaccines for domestic use until the completion of a planned booster campaign, but Moderna has yet to respond fully to the requests.
"Because Moderna's priority is to ensure the planned delivery of vaccines to countries in Europe, Moderna won't say yes to the government's requests. But it's fair to say an extra few million doses of Moderna vaccines could be distributed for domestic use in a way to support the government's plans to initiate a booster campaign," the second source added.
The country's inoculation campaign had been briefly dogged by Moderna's vaccine shortages and shipment delays. Moderna has agreed to supply South Korea with 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with no timeline set.
Regarding the issue, Samsung Biologics officials said it can't comment on client-related matters.
The development came a month after the country's health ministry official Lee Kil-il confirmed earlier reports by The Korea Times that talks had been underway with Moderna representatives on how Korea can procure more vaccines from it right after the vaccine production starts at Samsung's Songdo facility.
Behind the latest development is Samsung leader Lee Jae-yong, according to the sources. The justice ministry paroled Lee saying the decision was in consideration of Lee's expanded role in terms of handling issues related to shortages of vaccines and chips. Lee was said to have been involved in talks with Moderna's top management to get the U.S. firm's approval for domestic use of its locally produced COVID-19 vaccines. Samsung officials declined to comment.
Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) chief Jeong Eun-kyeong said Korea could be able to control COVID-19 enough to consider adopting a "living with COVID-19" scheme as soon as the second week of November.
As of Oct. 13, 60.8 percent of the 51 million population had been fully vaccinated, the KDCA said.
