Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "US Vaccine Surplus Unrelated to Quad Member Countries"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the 23rd, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the provision of surplus vaccines from the United States to foreign countries is not related to the Quad (Quad, USA, Australia, India, Japan), an anti-China security consultative body.

On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notice titled 'Explanation on Quad and Korea-US Vaccine Cooperation' to reporters, stating, "Quad vaccine cooperation aims to accelerate vaccine production to support developing countries, and some news reports claiming that the provision of surplus US vaccines to foreign countries is related to Quad member countries are not true."

Recently, South Korea requested a 'vaccine swap' from the US side, but the US refrained from commenting on this and instead promoted the atmosphere of vaccine cooperation with the Quad, raising concerns that South Korea might be deprioritized in vaccine support.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that at the Quad summit held on March 12, the parties agreed to establish new working groups on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, climate change, and critical/emerging technologies to jointly respond to global challenges in the region.

The Ministry explained, "Among the three working groups, Quad vaccine cooperation aims to supply vaccines to developing countries," adding, "At the same time, it plans to combine US technology and financial support from the US and Japan, India's manufacturing capabilities, and transportation capabilities of the US and Australia to produce and supply 1 billion vaccine doses to developing countries by 2022, and to establish a vaccine expert group composed of officials and scientists from the four Quad countries."