Health authorities are mulling the donation of remaining COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea, if necessary.
 
The Central Disease Control Headquarters unveiled the stance on Thursday, when asked if there is possibility of including North Korea in the list of countries to benefit from Seoul’s vaccine dispersal scheme.
 
Officials said North Korea had not been on their list of candidate nations, adding that they will still discuss the possibility with relevant ministries, if necessary.
 
North Korea officially confirmed a COVID-19 outbreak on Thursday, shifting to its maximum emergency antiviral system.  
 
The South Korean government has been donating remaining vaccines to other countries to mitigate vaccine waste, with the nation’s full two-dose inoculation rate holding steady at above 84 percent.
 
As of March 22, South Korea discarded more than two-point-three million COVID-19 vaccine doses, as they went unused before expiration.
 
As of Thursday, some 14-million-774-thousand doses remain in South Korea. Of those, Pfizer vaccines top the list with seven-point-seven million doses, followed by three-point-32 million from Moderna and one-point-98 million from Johnson & Johnson.