À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo by Press Corp.]
South Korea will expand its vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in the second quarter to give shots to more people with an aim of inoculating about a quarter of its 52 million people by the end of June.
A total of 11,502,400 citizens are vaccination targets for the April-June period, which include seniors aged 65 or above, schoolteachers, patients with chronic conditions, more healthcare workers, police and fire officials, soldiers, and flight attendants, according to a plan released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Monday.
The country started the campaign in February by giving shots to healthcare workers, front-line responders, and critically ill patients.
Starting April, 3.64 million people aged 75 or above will receive a Pfizer vaccine at regional vaccination centers. Some 4,943,000 people aged between 65 and 74 will receive an AstraZeneca vaccine from June at 10,000 consigned hospitals and health centers across the country.
Delivery schedules of Moderna, Janssen and Novavax vaccines have yet to be determined.
Specialty education workers (51,000) and nursery and school nurses (13,000) are in the group to receive a vaccine from April and 491,000 ordinary schoolteachers (nursery and early primary teachers) will receive shots in June. Some 10,000 high-risk patients with chronic conditions will get vaccinated within the first half.
Some 385,000 healthcare workers at clinics, hospitals and pharmacies will be inoculated with an AstraZeneca vaccine starting June. About 800,000 police and fire officials, and soldiers will receive a vaccine in the second quarter, three months earlier than expected. Flight attendants will receive an AstraZeneca vaccine from May to prevent the inflow of coronavirus mutants.
The KDCA said a total of 17,793,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses will be delivered to Korea in the first half.
By Pulse
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]