South Korea starts its vaccination campaign against COVID-19

Seoul, Feb 26 (efe-epa).- South Korea began Friday its vaccination campaign against Covid-19 more than a year after detecting its first case in the country and with the aim of having immunized the majority of its population by November and thus achieve herd immunity.

The first person to be inoculated with the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford was a 61-year-old worker from a senior center.

In the first round of vaccinations, some 300,000 workers and residents in care centers under 65 will receive the two injections required by this vaccine, since South Korea, like other countries, has decided not to inoculate the elderly pending further clinical data to clarify its effectiveness in this age group.

South Korea will receive the first batch of Pfizer vaccines Friday, which will be used Saturday on 55,000 front-line COVID-19 workers in medical centers.

Authorities hope to conclude these first rounds of vaccination in March and anticipate having vaccinated 70 percent of the population in September with the idea of ??achieving herd immunity in November.

However, some experts question these deadlines due to problems in the global supply of vaccines, delays in clinical studies in relation to those over 65 and the distrust of the population.

In the latest survey conducted, only 45 percent of South Koreans said they would get the vaccine immediately, while another 45 percent said they would wait to confirm its side effects.

South Korea, which has adopted no confinements or closed borders, is one of the countries that has best managed the pandemic. It has registered just over 89,000 infections and 1,585 deaths from COVID-19. EFE-EPA

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