South Korea Negotiating With mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Makers To Produce Up To 1B Doses: Reuters

South Korea is reportedly in talks with mRNA vaccine makers, including Pfizer Inc PFE and Moderna Inc MRNA, to produce COVID-19 shots in the country.
The country is ready to offer the capacity to make up to 1 billion doses immediately, Reuters reports, citing a senior government official.
The plan, if agreed, would help ease the crunched supply of the shots, particularly in Asia, which lags North America and Europe in vaccine rollouts.
South Korea already has deals to locally produce three COVID-19 vaccines developed by Oxford University/AstraZeneca plc AZN, Novavax Inc NVAX, and Russia.
It also has a vaccine bottling and packaging deal with Moderna.
"We've been holding frequent talks with big pharmaceutical companies to produce mRNA vaccines," Lee Kang-ho, director-general for the global vaccine hub committee under South Korea's health ministry, told Reuters in an interview.
BioNTech SE BNTX declined to comment, Moderna and CureVac BV CVAC did not reply to Reuters' requests for comments.
Lee declined to name local vaccine makers who can produce mRNA vaccines immediately. Still, a government source said they include Hanmi Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd and Quratis Co Ltd.