South Korea’s 1st domestic COVID-19 vaccine ready

Hundreds of vials were lined up on the belt of a packaging machine at L House, SK Bioscience’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province on Wednesday afternoon, as the developer of South Korea’s first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine SKYCovione is poised to roll out the vaccine’s first batch by the end of August. A few researchers, who were covered from head to toe with sterilized gear — protective shoes, clothing and hair caps — oversaw the automatic process while others put finishing touches on the packages. On the surface of the packaged products, which were stacked one by one in a yellow plastic box, it read: “SKYCovione Multi-Inj.”