Seoul, Dec 31, 2020, SPA -- South Korea today, on Thursday signed a deal with U.S. biotech company Moderna to buy new coronavirus vaccine doses for 20 million people here starting in the second quarter of next year, Yonhap quoted the country's health authorities as saying. The official contract was closed three days after President Moon Jae-in and Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel reached an agreement via videoconference on Monday. The volume of vaccine under the deal is double the amount that the government had initially sought to secure from the American biotech firm through negotiations. Following the deal, the total volume of vaccines South Korea has secured is enough to inoculate 56 million people. --SPA 20:52 LOCAL TIME 17:52 GMT 0022 www.spa.gov.sa/w1476813