UN Facility Allocates 3M Doses Of China Vaccine To North Korea

A UN-backed facility has newly allocated 3 million doses of coronavirus vaccine produced by China's major pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd. to North Korea, according to US media.

Photo Insert: Doubt lingers as to the efficacy of Sinovac, likewise whether North Korea will accept the donation.

But it is uncertain whether North Korea will accept them, Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Wednesday quoted an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) as saying, with all eyes on when the nation will obtain vaccines for its people through the COVAX platform.

North Korea was expected to receive around 2 million doses of vaccine produced by Britain's AstraZeneca Plc earlier this year, but the plan has been postponed as the country has been unwilling to fulfill all of the COVAX program's required administrative steps.

The COVAX initiative has asked vaccine receivers to accept those engaged in monitoring whether vaccinations have been carried out in an appropriate manner there, but North Korea has not allowed even its own citizens to enter the nation.

North Korea may carefully consider receiving Sinovac's vaccine from the framework designed to guarantee equitable global access to coronavirus vaccines, as many countries in South America and Southeast Asia have recently started to doubt its efficacy.

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