Government develops robust vaccination infrastructure that will allow the country to ‘respond more quickly’ in designing and producing shots
South Korea is accelerating its vaccine production capabilities as it seeks to better prepare for future outbreaks of infectious diseases.
The East Asian nation was among one of the few countries deemed to have had a “successful” pandemic by keeping its mortality relatively low without enforcing a lockdown or destroying the economy.
Yet in 2021, as the UK and US raced to roll out vaccines and mitigate against the continuing spread of Covid-19, South Korea’s then government faced public criticism over its own slow-moving vaccination programme and delays in providing locally-produced shots.
By the time Britain had vaccinated half of its population with a first Covid jab in April 2021, just 3 per cent of South Koreas had received a shot.