COVID-19 mass vaccine inoculations to start Friday nationwide

Medical staff examine AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccines at a public health center in Dongjak District, Seoul, Thursday, ahead of the start of mass vaccinations scheduled for Friday. Yonhap

Korea to begin mass vaccination drive for herd immunity by November

By Lee Hyo-jin

Korea will kick off its nationwide COVID-19 vaccination program, Friday, joining dozens of other countries in one of the largest mass immunization drives in history.

The first inoculations will begin at 9 a.m. for patients and healthcare workers aged below 65 at nursing homes or public health centers across the country with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

There has been heated debate on over who will be the first person to be vaccinated, but the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) did not specify a first individual as "vaccinations will begin simultaneously nationwide."

Although there will not be a "first person in the nation," there will be "first individuals" in each region. In Daegu, a doctor couple in their 60s working at a nursing facility will be the first to roll up their sleeves, and a nurse in her 50s at a nursing home will be the first to be vaccinated in Busan, according to the respective local governments.

The three are among the 289,000 nursing home workers and patients who will be inoculated with the first of the two doses by the end of March.

A total of 1.57 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine, enough for 780,000 people, were produced by SK Bioscience at a local plant in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, under a manufacturing partnership contract with the pharmaceutical company.

The government began to distribute the vaccine, which had been temporarily stored at a cold chain logistics warehouse in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, to around 1,900 care homes, health centers and similar facilities nationwide Thursday in a four-day operation.

The first convoy of one-ton trucks carrying the vaccine from the warehouses hit the road around 5:30 a.m., escorted by police and military vehicles. Ships will be used to deliver it to remote areas such as Jeju and Ulleung islands, and planes may also be mobilized depending on the weather, according to the health authorities.

A truck carrying AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine departs from a warehouse in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, to deliver it to public health centers and nursing homes. Yonhap

In addition, the first batches of Pfizer's vaccine that is expected to arrive at Incheon International Airport this afternoon will be administered to 58,000 healthcare workers at 143 medical facilities treating COVID-19 patients starting Saturday.

Other groups, divided in order of priority, will be administered the vaccine in accordance with the timeline set by the KDCA.

Those who will receive vaccines in the second quarter include senior citizens aged 65 or over; healthcare workers at medical institutions; caregivers and patients at care homes for the disabled; and people at homeless shelters.

In the third quarter, vaccinations will be largely expanded to citizens aged between 18 and 64, including those with chronic illnesses, as well as social service workers, military service members, police officers and workers at education institutions. Citizens who have not received a shot by September will be offered vaccinations during the fourth quarter.

Through the mass vaccination program, Korea aims to immunize 70 percent of the population, or up to 36 million people, by September, in order to create herd immunity by November.

Meanwhile, the law enforcement authorities have vowed to clamp down on fake news on vaccines that is rapidly spreading online ahead of the vaccinations, as groundless misinformation could lead to public fear on safety and efficacy.

Such fake news includes misleading claims that the vaccines contain cells of aborted fetuses, or that getting the shots will cause dementia or genetic modification.

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