South Korea delivered its first available shots of coronavirus vaccines to people in long-term care facilities on Friday, launching a massive immunization campaign which health authorities hope will restore some degree of normalcy by the end of the year.
The rollout of vaccines comes at a critical time for the country, which has swept away its hard-won gains against the virus in a winter wave and is struggling to mitigate the economic shock of the pandemic that has decimated jobs in the service sector.
“I have felt very anxious for the past year, but I now feel safer after getting the vaccine,” said nursing home worker Lee Gyeong-Soon, who received her injection at a public health center in north Seoul.
Health authorities plan to inject the first of two doses to approximately 344,000 residents and workers in long-term care facilities and 55,000 primary care providers by the end of March.
“We have taken the historic first step to restore normalcy,” said Son Young-rae, a health ministry official during a briefing.
He said the government has decided to extend current social distance levels for at least two more weeks, limit private gatherings of five or more people, and ban indoor dining after 10 p.m. to help create a safe environment for vaccinations.
Separately, doctors, nurses and other health professionals treating COVID-19 patients will receive the injections developed by Pfizer and BioNTech starting Saturday. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccines, which South Korea has obtained through the WHO-backed COVAX program, arrived at Incheon International Airport on Friday and will be transported to five major COVID-19 treatment hospitals.
The following vaccines available are likely to go to general hospital workers, paramedics, quarantine workers, and people over the age of 65 before broader groups of adults begin receiving injections in the summer.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– Hong Kong began administering its first COVID-19 vaccines to the public, kicking off the program with free vaccinations to all 7.5 million residents. People aged 60 and older and health professionals are among the approximately 2.4 million people who are currently given priority in receiving vaccines in community centers and outpatient clinics in Hong Kong. According to the government, registrations for the first two weeks of the program are full. So far, participants will receive the vaccine from Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac. Last week, one million doses arrived in the city, and Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and other senior government officials were the first to be vaccinated to bolster confidence in the program. Hong Kong has closed deals to purchase 22.5 million doses of vaccines from Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Fosun Pharma, which will supply the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech.
– The Sri Lankan government has changed its policy to allow only cremations for COVID-19 victims and will allow funerals, after months of protests from Muslims and others that it is insensitive to religious beliefs. The government issued the decree on Thursday evening allowing cremation and burial according to established health guidelines. The push for cremation had only cited possible groundwater contamination, despite the World Health Organization and local medical professional organizations saying such claims have no scientific basis.
– A state of emergency instituted to curb the coronavirus in Japan will be lifted this weekend in six metropolitan areas during an additional week in the Tokyo area. The minister responsible for pandemic measures told a government panel about the changes, although the official decision has not been announced. The state of emergency began in January and aimed at asking restaurants, bars and other businesses to close at 8 p.m. The state of emergency partially lifted, and just a week early, underscores Japan’s eagerness to keep the economy going. Separately, Japan said shipments of coronavirus vaccines will arrive at local government offices in late June to vaccinate the country’s 36 million seniors. Those 65 or older are scheduled to receive vaccines after health professionals. But concerns about a wide supply of the imported vaccines grew.
– China has approved two more COVID-19 vaccines for wider use. The CanSino Biologics vaccine is the first to be developed by a Chinese company that requires only one injection. CanSino said it is 65.28% effective 28 days after the dose is given. The other recently approved vaccine is from a subsidiary of the state-owned Sinopharm, the Wuhan Institute of Biologics, which said the vaccine is 72.51% effective. Vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm’s Beijing subsidiary have been previously approved and are in use. Sinovac and Sinopharm have both said they could produce 1 billion shots annually by the end of this year. A military researcher told the state media that CanSino can produce up to 300 million doses per year, and the Wuhan Institute said it can produce up to 100 million doses per year.