A UPS cargo flight on April 14 landed with 250,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 for 125,000 people. Shown here are senior citizens aged 75 or over on April 1 being inoculated against the coronavirus at a vaccination center in Seoul's Seongbuk-gu District. (Yonhap News)

By Sarah Oqelee and Lee Jihae

A quarter of a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 for 125,000 people arrived in Korea on the morning of April 14.

The vaccines are part of the supply agreed on in a contract between the government and Pfizer. They arrived at 7:45 a.m. at Incheon International Airport via a UPS cargo flight.

Under the deal, the government will purchase 26 million doses of the vaccine to immunize 13 million people. Thus 1.5 million doses had arrived in Korea as of April 14 and another 5.5 million are expected by June.

The Pfizer vaccine is being given to people aged 75 or older and residents and staff at geriatric care facilities.

The government has thus secured enough vaccines for 79 million people.

sarahoqelee@korea.kr