[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 19th that it has granted national release approval for Moderna Korea's BA.1-targeted bivalent vaccine.
Moderna's bivalent vaccine, 'Moderna Spikevax 2 Dose,' is a messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 bivalent vaccine that expresses antigens for both the original COVID-19 virus (Wuhan strain) and the Omicron BA.1 variant.
National release approval is a system that re-verifies the quality of vaccines before distribution by evaluating test results for each manufacturing batch and the manufacturer's production and testing data.
An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety explained, "After conducting quality tests on 810,000 doses of Moderna Spikevax 2 Dose and reviewing the manufacturer's production and testing data, we determined that it meets the approved quality standards and decided to grant national release approval."
Moderna Spikevax 2 Dose arrived in South Korea with 805,000 doses on the 15th and 806,000 doses on the 17th. The quarantine authorities plan to establish detailed implementation plans for Moderna's bivalent vaccine and announce them by the end of this month. Vaccinations are expected to be carried out in October.
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