South Korea will speed up the approval process of COVID-19 vaccines that will arrive in the country this month. 

The nation will bring in 117-thousand doses of Pfizer vaccines, enough to inoculate nearly 60-thousand people, through the COVAX Facility, the World Health Organization's global vaccine provision program. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Wednesday it will request that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety apply for a fast-track import process for the Pfizer vaccines.

The KDCA made the decision after a meeting involving the two agencies and health experts earlier in the day.

The fast-track import system allows for the import of unauthorized medicines needed to deal with the outbreak of infectious diseases and public health crises. Remdesivir, a COVID-19 treatment, was introduced under the same system last year.