South Korea will begin vaccinating nursery homes residents and staff as well as, if necessary, frontline medical workers with the Oxford/AstraZeneca Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine from Feb. 26., according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDC) said on Tuesday.
It was reported on Monday that starting from Feb. 24, the country’s hospitals will receive a shipment of the vaccine for 750,000 people, with at least 2,71 million doses expected to become available in the first quarter of 2021, manufactured by South Korea’s SK Bioscience company per the agreement with AstraZeneca.
The country’s food and drug agency has previously approved the use of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine while advising caution when giving it to senior citizens, sparking a debate on whether it should be used among elderly patients. In accordance with the vaccination schedule, both frontline medical workers and people at nursery homes are the first to receive their shots.
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Seoul originally planned to vaccinate frontline medical workers with the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine, which is expected to arrive in late February from the COVAX Facility
However, if the shipment is delayed, South Korea will use the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine instead. This year, the country hopes to receive a total of 106 million doses from AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Janssen and via the COVAX Facility.
Talks are also underway for the purchase of another 40 million doses from U.S. company Novavax. The country’s health authorities also stated that they did not rule out purchasing other vaccines, including Russia’s Sputnik V if the already acquired vaccines were not enough or in case any issues emerged
