Vaccinations for Those Aged 75 and Over Start Tomorrow... 'Vaccine Leave' Also Implemented

Pfizer Vaccine Shipment of 500,000 Doses Arrives
Significant Reduction Planned for COVID Disaster Alerts

250,000 doses (500,000 shots) of the U.S. Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, intended for vaccination of seniors aged 75 and older and residents and workers of elderly care facilities, are arriving at Incheon International Airport Cargo Terminal on the 31st. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

COVID-19 vaccination for the elderly aged 75 and over is just one day away. The second batch of vaccines secured through an individual contract with Pfizer also arrived in the country on the 31st, marking the final preparations for the second quarter vaccination campaign.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at Incheon International Airport at around 8:30 a.m. on the same day. With the remaining doses arriving following the shipment on the 24th, the planned import of 1 million doses for March has been completed. The vaccines were moved to a logistics center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, around 11 a.m., where they are stored in an ultra-low temperature freezer. They will then be transported to 49 vaccination centers nationwide, including 8 in Seoul, 5 in Gyeonggi, and 4 each in Gangwon, Gyeongnam, and Jeonbuk.

The Pfizer vaccine recipients starting from April 1 are 3,508,975 people born on or before December 31, 1946. As of the 28th, 2,041,865 people have expressed their consent to vaccination, with 1,758,623 (86%) indicating their intention to be vaccinated. Along with the elderly aged 75 and over, residents, users, and workers in elderly care facilities will also receive the vaccine.

An additional 6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive sequentially by June. However, due to global vaccine supply instability, there is uncertainty whether the planned second-quarter Pfizer vaccine shipments will arrive on time. The AstraZeneca vaccine, which was scheduled to be imported through the COVAX Facility on the same day, has also been delayed by about three weeks and the quantity reduced.

With the vaccination for the general public set to begin in earnest, a two-day “vaccine leave” will be introduced starting April 1 for those experiencing adverse reactions after vaccination. Recipients can take a day off the day after vaccination and, if symptoms persist, take an additional day off. The leave can be used simply by the recipient’s application without requiring a separate medical certificate. Essential social workers such as police officers and military personnel, who are second-quarter vaccination targets, will be granted sick leave. The government will recommend that the private sector either provide separate paid leave or utilize sick leave systems.

COVID-19 disaster text messages will be significantly reduced. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has decided to minimize COVID-19-related information sent via disaster text messages by prohibiting the transmission of ▲confirmed case occurrence (or non-occurrence) and movement routes, local government action plans ▲personal quarantine rules commonly known to the public ▲promotion of local government COVID-19 response performance, facility opening and closing status, and other general information ▲duplicate messages identical or similar to those announced by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters ▲messages sent during late-night hours (10 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next day).

As of midnight on the same day, 506 new COVID-19 cases were reported. The weekend effect of reduced testing ended, and the number of confirmed cases rose back to the 500s after four days. There were 491 domestic cases and 15 imported cases. An additional 28,407 people received their first vaccine dose the previous day, bringing the cumulative total to over 850,000. A total of 8,185 people have completed their second dose.

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