Vaccination Completion Rate Surpasses 60% at 1 PM... "Too Early to Assess Shift to Declining Trend" (Update)

On the 12th, when the number of people who received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine surpassed 40 million and hospital workers began their booster shots, citizens were observed for adverse reactions after vaccination at the vaccination center set up at Bukahyeon Culture and Sports Center in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The domestic COVID-19 vaccination completion rate has surpassed 60%.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team announced on the 12th at 1 p.m. that, based on a provisional tally of the number of vaccinated individuals, the total number of fully vaccinated people (including those who received one dose of the Janssen vaccine) was 30,905,870.

This accounts for 60.2% of the total population, and 70.0% of the adult population aged 18 and over have completed vaccination.

Hong Jeong-ik, head of the Vaccination Management Team at the Promotion Team, said, "Thanks to the public's full understanding and active participation in policies such as shortening the interval between messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine doses and using leftover vaccines for second doses, the second dose vaccinations are progressing smoothly at a rapid pace." He added, "At this rate, the goal of 70% of the entire population being fully vaccinated by the end of October will proceed without any setbacks."

Additionally, health authorities stated that although the COVID-19 outbreak situation shifted to a downward trend last week, variables such as mobility and vaccination rates remain, so they need to monitor the situation a little longer.

Park Young-jun, head of the Epidemiological Investigation Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, explained at the COVID-19 response briefing that "it is still too early to assess whether the number of confirmed cases has truly entered a declining trend due to the weekend effect of reduced testing."

Park added, "Mobility and vaccination rates, which influence the increase in confirmed cases, are both important. Since there were consecutive holidays, it is necessary to observe the trend for at least one week."

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