Korea remains committed to vaccinate 12 million people in 1H

Despite unstable vaccine supply and growing skepticism about the government’s vaccination program, the health authorities reaffirmed their goal of inoculating 12 million people within the first half-year on Tuesday.

The outlook for vaccine supply is becoming increasingly uncertain, as all advanced countries are competing to secure vaccines to complete the immunization of their people. The U.S. is even moving toward the so-called booster shots, aiming to provide third injections than the originally planned two doses of jabs.

According to the fluctuations of global vaccine supply and demand, the Korean government has already revised its vaccination plan several times.

The government has repeatedly stressed that it would secure vaccines by activating an interagency task force. However, questions are growing about if the government can vaccinate 70 percent of the population by July and achieve herd immunity in November.

"The government will set up a total of 264 vaccination centers in all cities and counties by the end of April, and vaccinate three million people by April, and 12 million people in the first half without a hitch," Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-chul said during a daily meeting on Tuesday. "We will overcome the global competition for securing vaccines and variables on the safety of the vaccine."

The government will also introduce and inoculate the originally planned vaccine and sign contracts for additional vaccines soon, he added.

Kwon urged citizens to trust the government and actively participate in the vaccination.

Earlier in the day, the nation’s top diplomat said that Korea is "earnestly discussing" forging a swap deal with the United States to secure Covid-19 vaccines.

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong revealed the bilateral consultation underway between Seoul and Washington during a parliamentary session.

"Currently, (Korea) is discussing (the potential swap deal) with the U.S. side quite earnestly," the foreign minister said, responding to a query by Rep. Park Jin of the main opposition People Power Party.

Chung said the issue was "intensively" consulted when U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry visited Seoul last week.

Meanwhile, the health authorities have vaccinated 1,639,490 people – 1,043,457 with the AstraZeneca vaccine and 596,033 with Pfizer's vaccine. They confirmed 12,395 adverse cases, including 124 suspected anaphylaxis cases, 31 seizure cases, and 49 deaths.

On Monday, the government started administering AstraZeneca vaccines to health care workers for the disabled, seniors, veterans, and airline crew members aged 30 and more.

Pharmacists, therapists, and dialysis patients, as well as around 173,000 social service workers, including police officers and firefighters, will also be eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine beginning next week.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA) confirmed 54 new patients, including 529 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 114,646 as of midnight Sunday. Imported infections stayed the same at 20.

One more person died of the Covid-19, pushing the death toll to 1,802 with a fatality rate of 1.56 percent. The number of fully recovered people in the country increased to 105,227, with 753 newly recovered patients. The country has tested 8,458,592 people since Jan. 3 last year.