The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 3rd that it plans to approve the special import of Pfizer’s novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine within this week.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would apply for a special import of Pfizer vaccine to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, reflecting the expert advisory meeting held in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety the day before.
The preventive effect of Pfizer vaccine is about 95% in clinical trials, the highest among the five vaccines to be introduced in Korea. It must be inoculated twice in total, and a cryogenic refrigeration system is required for storage and distribution.
Pfizer’s vaccine will be supplied to Korea at a scale of 117,000 doses (approximately 60,000 people) through’COVAX facility’, an international vaccine joint purchase and distribution project from mid-February.
Special importation is a system that allows drugs that are not licensed domestically to be imported from abroad to cope with the pandemic of infectious diseases. It was also used in the process of introducing remdesivir, a treatment for Corona 19.