Metropolitan Area Riders to Receive Pfizer Priority Vaccination Starting the 13th... 23,000 People Gathered in Seoul Alone

Pfizer Vaccinations Secured in Israel for Seoul and Gyeonggi Riders
About 23,000 Applicants in Seoul Only... "Those Who Applied for Gyeonggi as Vaccination Area Are Excluded"
First Dose from 13th to 24th This Month... Seoul City Also Considering Additional Applications Next Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] Riders (delivery workers) active in the Seoul metropolitan area have been included in the priority group for COVID-19 vaccination. After delivery applications (apps) and delivery agencies began accepting vaccination applications, it was confirmed that about 23,000 people applied from Seoul alone. The Seoul Metropolitan Government is also considering accepting additional applications next month.

According to the related industry on the 10th, delivery companies such as Baedal Minjok and Coupang Eats received official letters from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Gyeonggi Province starting from the 6th, requesting cooperation in submitting the list of vaccination candidates under the 'Autonomous Priority Vaccination Implementation by Metropolitan Local Governments.' Accordingly, delivery apps notified all riders via text messages with links to apply for priority vaccination.

The vaccination candidates are delivery and quick service riders operating within the metropolitan area. Part-time riders who do not rely on delivery as their main livelihood were also included. Anyone with a delivery history from January of this year to the 7th of this month was eligible to apply. The first dose is scheduled from the 13th to the 24th of this month, and the second dose is planned for August.

The riders who applied for priority vaccination this time will receive the Pfizer vaccine. The recently imported 700,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines, brought in under the COVID-19 vaccine swap agreement between the Korean government and the Israeli government, will be utilized. Earlier, on the 6th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that 200,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines newly secured through Israel would be prioritized for groups with high contact rates such as academy workers, transportation workers, and sanitation workers. Although riders were not originally included among transportation workers, the scope of priority vaccination was expanded due to the worsening COVID-19 spread.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, as of 5 p.m. on the 8th, when the priority vaccination application closed, about 23,000 riders had applied from Seoul alone. Considering that there were about 7,800 applicants as of 1 p.m. on the same day, the number of applicants nearly tripled in just four hours.

However, the actual number of riders receiving Pfizer vaccinations held by the Seoul Metropolitan Government is expected to be lower. This is because those who chose vaccination sites at regional vaccination centers in Gyeonggi Province were decided to be excluded from the Seoul vaccination target. It is uncertain whether these individuals can receive Pfizer vaccines held by Gyeonggi Province. A Seoul official stated, “It has not yet been decided whether the list of those who applied for vaccination sites in Gyeonggi Province will be transferred to Gyeonggi Province,” adding, “All other individuals can receive Pfizer vaccinations.”

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is also considering accepting additional priority vaccination applications next month. This is interpreted as a result of more riders applying for priority vaccination than expected in a short period. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has identified about 23,000 full-time riders in Seoul. Considering that part-time riders were included in the priority vaccination group, the fact that 23,000 riders applied within just two days indicates a high demand for vaccination within the industry.

However, there are opinions that “the scope of vaccination candidates is too broad and goes against the original intent.” It has been pointed out that including those who made so-called “one-time deliveries” as vaccination candidates is unfair. Seoul and Gyeonggi Province did not set criteria such as the number of deliveries or working hours, and included anyone with even a single delivery history through delivery apps as vaccination candidates. Lee Younghoon (26, pseudonym), a university student living in Seocho-gu, Seoul, said, “Nowadays, both customers and riders prefer non-face-to-face delivery, mostly leaving food or goods at the door,” adding, “It is hard to understand why even those who deliver as a hobby are included in the priority vaccination group.”

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