SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea planned to secure COVID-19 vaccines from foreign drugmakers for 44 million people, or 88 percent of the country's total population, the health ministry said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it preordered 20 million doses of vaccines each from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, which require two shots, as well as 4 million doses of vaccines from Johnson &Johnson's Janssen that require one shot for the country's 34 million people.

The preorder contract was formally signed with AstraZeneca, while other contracts planned to be inked in the near future, the ministry said.

The remaining vaccines for 10 million people will be secured through the World Health Organization (WHO)'s global vaccine project, called COVAX Facility.

The government set aside a combined 1.3 trillion won (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) of the budget for the vaccine purchase.

The preordered vaccines will be shipped to the country from February next year in a gradual way, and if necessary, the country will secure additional vaccines according to the development of other vaccine candidates, according to the ministry.

The ministry said it has not decided on the vaccination schedule give that the vaccine development had yet to be completed while concerns remained over their safety and efficacy.

The government was considering the first inoculation of virus-vulnerable people, such as the elderly, nursing home residents and the chronically ill as well as healthcare workers.