South Korea to get an incredible number of vaccine doses as COVID-19 cases surge
08 December, 2020
South Korea said on Monday (Dec 7) it has signed deals to supply coronavirus vaccines for 44 million persons next year, due to the country battles a good wave of attacks that authorities tell you could overwhelm its medical program.
The federal government has arranged to get 20 million doses each from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna, and another 4 million doses from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, enough to hide to 34 million people, Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a briefing.
Additional doses for 10 million people will be procured through the World Health Organization's global vaccine project, referred to as COVAX, he added.
"We had initially prepared to secure vaccines for 30 million persons but decided to purchase more, as there is normally uncertainty over the accomplishment of the vaccine prospects and your competition is intense among countries for early purchases," he said.
Shipments of the vaccine would begin no later than March, but authorities would observe the vaccines worked in other countries for several weeks to ensure basic safety. Widespread vaccination was more likely to start in the next half of next time.
Despite the current surge in cases, South Korea's relative success in tamping down past waves meant the federal government did not have to hurry a vaccine, Recreation area said.
"We don't see the need to hurriedly commence vaccination without making certain the vaccines' risks have been verified," he said.
The first vaccines may likely head to medical workers, elderly and medically vulnerable people, and social workers.
WAVE OF INFECTIONS
The Korea Disease Control and Avoidance Firm reported 594 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Monday, getting the country's total to 38,755, with 552 deaths.
Unlike South Korea's past two waves of infections, that have been largely focused around a small number of facilities or events, the new wave has been driven by smaller sized, harder-to-trace clusters around the densely populated capital city of Seoul.
Vice Wellbeing Minister Kang Do-tae said the federal government had been struggling to trace the foundation of 26 % of all instances, and the positivity amount spiked nearly fourfold within a month to about 4 per cent.
"If social distancing isn't implemented properly, outbreaks found in the higher Seoul area would bring about increased transmissions nationwide," Kang told a meeting of health officials relating to a transcript from medical ministry.
Well being authorities predicted daily circumstances would hover between 550 and 750 this week, and perhaps spike up to 900 next week.
If such predictions are accurate, Kang stated the country's health system may collapse.
"There may be a dangerous circumstances where it becomes quite difficult not only to take care of COVID-19 patients but also to supply essential medical solutions," he said.
Southern Korean President Moon Jae-in called on Mon for expanded coronavirus tests and more complete tracing as infections continued to go up regardless of the imposition of increasingly restrictive public distancing measures.
Seoul had not been currently in foretells purchase vaccines from either Russia or perhaps China, Park said.
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