Moderna Agrees To Supply South Korea With COVID-19 Vaccine For 20M People: Yonhap

Moderna Inc MRNA has agreed to supply South Korea its COVID-19 vaccine, with doses enough for 20 million people, reports Yonhap News Agency. 

What Happened: Cheong Wa Dae — the South Korean presidential office — and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel arrived at a revised agreement virtually on Monday, as per Yonhap. The supply will commence in the second quarter of 2021.

The official signing of the agreement is anticipated to close by the end of this year. The original agreement was to supply approximately half the number of doses at a later date sometime in the third quarter of next year.

Moderna has also agreed to cooperate with South Korean firms for consignment production of the vaccine, as per Cheong Wa Dae.

During the virtual conference, President Moon Jae-in and Bancel also approved of a potential collaboration between the biotech company and the South Korean Institute of Infectious Diseases, Yonhap noted.

Why Does It Matter: Kang Min-Seok, a spokesperson for the Presidential Office, suggested that with the new deal in place, South Korea would have access to vaccines for approximately 56 million people. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has set aside $157 million to secure 60 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

South Korea also inked a deal with AstraZeneca Plc AZN on Nov. 27, as per a report earlier this month. At the time, a memorandum of understanding was said to have been signed with Johson & Johnson JNJ and Pfizer Inc PFE and negotiations for the supply quantity and delivery schedule were in advanced stages.

Price Action: After a 9.72% drop during trading hours on Monday, MRNA stock dipped another 1.18% in the extended hours to close at $110.08

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