South Korea administered first available photos of coronavirus vaccines to long-term care units on Friday, launching mass immunization campaign that the health authorities hope to restore a certain level of normalcy by the end of the year.
The launch of the vaccines came at a critical time for the country, which has seen its hard-earned gains against the virus eroded by a winter rise and is struggling to alleviate the economic shock of the pandemic that has decimated jobs in the services sector.
“I’ve been very uneasy for the last year, but now I feel safer after I get the vaccine,” said Lee Gyeong, a nursing home worker who was set on fire at a public health center in northern Seoul.
The health authorities intend to complete the injection of the first of the two doses to approximately 344,000 residents and workers in long-term care facilities and 55,000 front-line health workers by the end of March.
“We have taken the first historic step towards restoring normalcy,” Son Young-rae, a health ministry official, said during a briefing.
He said the government has decided to extend the current levels of social distancing for at least another two weeks, limiting private social gatherings to five or more people and banning indoor meals after 10pm to help create a safe environment for vaccinations. .
Separately, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals treating COVID-19 patients will begin receiving photos developed by Pfizer and BioNTech on Saturday. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which South Korea obtained through the WHO-supported COVAX program, arrived at Incheon International Airport on Friday and will be transported to five major COVID-19 treatment hospitals.
The following available vaccines are intended for general hospital workers, paramedics, quarantined workers and people over the age of 65, before larger groups of adults start receiving vaccines in the summer.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– Hong Kong began administering its first COVID-19 vaccines to the public, launching its program offering free vaccinations to all 7.5 million residents. People aged 60 and over and health workers are currently among the approximately 2.4 million priority people to receive vaccines in community centers and outpatient clinics in Hong Kong. The government has said registrations for the first two weeks of the program are complete. So far, participants will receive the vaccine by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac. One million doses arrived in the city last week, and Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and other top government officials were vaccinated first in a bid to boost confidence in the program. Hong Kong has reached agreements to buy 22.5 million doses of vaccines from Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Fosun Pharma, which will deliver the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech.
– The Sri Lankan government has changed its policy to allow only the cremation of COVID-19 victims and will allow burials, after months of protests by Muslims and others, that it is insensitive to religious beliefs. The government issued the decree on Thursday evening, allowing cremation and burial in accordance with stipulated health guidelines. The emphasis on incineration only mentioned the possible contamination of groundwater, despite the fact that the World Health Organization and local medical bodies have stated that such claims have no scientific basis.
– A state of emergency has been instituted to reduce coronavirus in Japan will be lifted in six urban areas this weekend, while remaining in the Tokyo area for another week. The government minister responsible for the pandemic measures told a government group about the changes, although the official decision was not announced. The state of emergency began in January and centered on calls for restaurants, bars and other businesses to close at 8pm. The partial lifting of the emergency and, just a week earlier, underscores Japan’s desire to maintain the economy. Separately, Japan has said shipments of coronavirus vaccines will reach local government offices by the end of June to inoculate the nation’s 36 million elderly people. Those 65 and older are scheduled to be vaccinated after health care workers. But concerns have been raised about a large amount of imported vaccines.
– China approved two more COVID-19 vaccines for wider use. The vaccine from CanSino Biologics is the first to be developed by a Chinese company that requires a single shot. CanSino said it is 65.28% effective 28 days after the dose. The other newly approved vaccine comes from a state-owned subsidiary of Sinopharm, the Wuhan Institute of Biology, which said its vaccine is 72.51% effective. The vaccines from Sinovac and the Sinopharm branch in Beijing have been previously approved and are in use. Both Sinovac and Sinopharm have said they will be able to produce 1 billion photos a year by the end of this year. A military researcher said CanSino state media can produce up to 300 million doses a year, and the Wuhan Institute said it can produce up to 100 million doses a year.