South Korea Signs Contract For Additional 40 Million Pfizer Doses

South Korea reached a deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to buy additional vaccines for 20 million people.

The country will accelerate the COVID-19 vaccine rollout as it has received enough shots to achieve herd immunity by November, according to the country's acting prime minister Monday.

In a public message, Acting Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki sought to allay public fears about a vaccine shortage and slow vaccination progress as the country braces for another wave of infections.

With the new deal, the country has secured 192 million doses in total, enough to inoculate 99 million citizens, almost doubling the country's 52 million population.

Since the start of the vaccination campaign in South Korea on Feb. 26, a total of 2.26 million people, or 4.4% of the 52 million population, have received at least their first vaccinations.

The country plans to vaccinate three million people by the end of this month and 12 million by the end of June, with the goal of achieving herd immunity by November.

"The country plans to pump up efforts to vaccinate 1.5 million people per day by May," Hong said.

He added that the country is working on ways to help vaccinated citizens return to their normal lives, such as exempting them from mandatory two-week isolation if they have near contact with virus patients or return from overseas trips.

South Korea has obtained COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX global vaccine campaign and individual agreements with five pharmaceutical companies: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen and Novavax.

According to health officials, the country is expected to receive 18.09 million doses from Pfizer and AstraZeneca in the first half. They are negotiating with the other three companies to advance the imports of approximately 2.71 million shots by June.

The country has stated that it has no intention of sharing vaccines with other nations, including North Korea.