A health worker picks up a vial containing COVID-19 vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca, at a public health center in Seoul on March 11, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will begin administering vaccines to members of the general public aged 75 and over and other virus-vulnerable groups starting next month as part of its inoculation campaign, health authorities said Monday, with a total of 12 million people to get their first COVID-19 vaccine shots during the first half of the year.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced the list of second-quarter vaccine recipients by first including non-medical personnel and those who are not at long-term care facilities.
Some 3.64 million people aged 75 and older will get vaccinated in the first week of April, the KDCA said. They will receive COVID-19 vaccines developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. that are scheduled to arrive in the country later this month.
Vaccines provided by Pfizer will be given at state-run vaccination facilities as the products require ultra-cold chain storage.
The authorities said they plan to build a total of 254 such facilities at general hospitals, gymnasiums and other kinds of government sites across the country by July.
Elderly people aged between 65 and 74 will be vaccinated with AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines starting in late May, they said. The number of people in the group is around 4.94 million.
The age group will receive their first shots of AstraZenca two-dose regimen between May and June and their second shots between August and September, they said.
A combined 376,000 health care workers and patients aged 65 and older at sanatoriums, nursing facilities and rehabilitation facilities will also begin receiving their first shots of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine later this month.
The plan comes after the authorities expanded the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines to people aged 65 and older to ramp up the vaccine rollout as new overseas studies showed its effectiveness
The KDCA initially excluded administering vaccines developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University to the elderly, citing insufficient clinical data.
A participant holds a needle during a COVID-19 vaccination educational program for nurses in Seoul on March 4, 2021. (Yonhap)
Other personnel in the education field, including some 51,000 teachers in charge of child care for the disabled and another 13,000 health care personnel in kindergartens, will start receiving AstraZeneca products next month.
A total of 491,000 teachers in charge of children at kindergartens and day care centers and first-year and second-year elementary students will begin vaccinations in June, according to the KDCA.
The authorities said they have included around 20,000 flight attendants on the list for second-quarter vaccine recipients starting in May, citing their vulnerability to more transmissible variants
A combined 385,000 personnel working in neighborhood clinics, dental hospitals, oriental medical clinics and pharmacies will be subject to inoculation with AstraZeneca vaccines starting in June, they said.
The authorities also said they will provide AstraZeneca products to those who have to leave the country for business in principle. Those who need urgent departure may be subject to Pfizer vaccines following evaluation.
South Korea aims to get 70 percent of its population inoculated by September, with so-called herd immunity here predicted to be created by November.
The government has already secured COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate 79 million people under the World Health Organization’s global vaccine COVAX Facility project and separate contracts with five foreign drug firms.
During the second quarter of the year, a total of 16.1 million doses of vaccines will arrive here following 1.69 million doses in February.
(Yonhap)
