Next Month, COVID-19 Vaccination for the General Public Begins

98 Million People Including Those Aged 65 and Over, Disabled, and Healthcare Workers to Receive Vaccinations in Q2

On the morning of the 27th of last month, a healthcare worker received the Pfizer vaccine at the Central Vaccination Center of the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] From the 2nd quarter, COVID-19 vaccination will begin with the elderly aged 65 and over and expand to the general public.

The government finalized the "COVID-19 Vaccination 2nd Quarter Implementation Plan" containing this content on the 15th and will announce it in the afternoon. Minister Kwon Deok-cheol of the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting in the morning, "Vaccination will start targeting seniors aged 65 and over." He added, "Vaccinations will be conducted for high-risk groups such as residents and workers of elderly and disabled facilities where cluster infections and severe progression risks are high."

During the 2nd quarter, vaccination is scheduled for about 9.8 million people, including approximately 8.5 million general elderly aged 65 and over, about 900,000 users and workers of COVID-19 vulnerable facilities such as disabled and elderly care facilities, and about 380,000 medical institution and pharmacy workers. Additionally, vaccinations for about 20,000 international flight crew members recently added and school and childcare facility workers will also be conducted during the 2nd quarter.

Minister Kwon explained, "Vaccinations will begin stepwise starting from special and disabled education, then kindergarten, daycare centers, and lower-grade elementary school teachers."

As of midnight today, the number of people who have completed vaccination is 588,958, about half of the planned 1.17 million completions by the end of this month. The government is continuing vaccinations for those under 65 years old in long-term care hospitals and facilities (about 310,000), workers at COVID-19 dedicated hospitals (about 58,000), high-risk medical institution workers (about 350,000), and first responders to COVID-19 (about 75,000). In addition, AstraZeneca vaccine vaccinations for residents and workers aged 65 and over in long-term care hospitals and facilities (about 376,000), previously excluded due to lack of clinical data, will begin next week.

However, there are concerns about whether vaccinations in the 2nd quarter will proceed smoothly. The government plans to complete vaccinations for about 12 million people in the first half of the year, but currently, the confirmed vaccine supply schedule covers about 8.89 million doses. Moderna, Novavax, and Janssen vaccines are expected to be additionally introduced in the 2nd quarter, but their schedules have not yet been finalized.

To overcome this situation, the government plans to use the strategy of "accelerated vaccination." Currently, the government has secured both first and second doses in preparation for unstable vaccine supply. However, since the AstraZeneca vaccine is consigned for production at SK Bioscience's Andong plant and supply concerns are low, the government intends not to stockpile the second dose but to speed up the first dose vaccination to overcome the "vaccine bottleneck."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.