UK to send 1 million COVID vaccine doses to South Korea in 'vaccine swap' deal

The United Kingdom government has announced plans to share over a million doses of COVID vaccine with South Korea in a "vaccine swap". The United Kingdom government will be sending more than 1 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to South Korea in order to accelerate their vaccination programme. The Britain administration plans to ship the first batch of the Coronavirus vaccines to South Korea in the coming weeks. 

The decision has been taken by the United Kingdom government to help South Korea towards hitting its target of fully vaccinating 70 per cent of its population by the end of October. The first batch of COVID vaccines will be received by South Korea in the coming weeks. South Korea will return the same number of vaccine doses to the Britain government by the end of 2021. 

COVAX programme

According to the Britain government statement, the decision of swapping vaccines will not impact the country's vaccine programme as 90 per cent of people aged above 16 have been vaccinated with one dose of vaccine. Moreover, it will not affect the commitment of the UK government to the COVAX programme. The decision follows the announcement this month of a similar swap deal between the UK and Australia. As per the statement, the announcement follows the Britain administration donating 10.3 million COVID vaccines to other nations, including 6.2 million to vulnerable nations through the COVAX programme. 

Sajid Javid, Health and Social Care Secretary, in the statement said that the new announcement would not affect the UK vaccination programme. He said, "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". He added that they will continue their effort to deliver 100 million vaccine doses to nations around the world by 2022. 

The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss said, "The UK is playing a leading role in the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic - donating 100 million vaccine doses across the world and have committed £548m to COVAX". Furthermore, Truss insisted that the new agreement between the UK and South Korea would benefit both countries as they combat COVID. In the statement, Liz Truss added, "The Republic of Korea is a strategic partner for the UK and the sharing of one million vaccines benefits both countries as we help build resistance against COVID-19 and save lives".

Image: AP