SK President Moon, Receives AstraZeneca Shot, Country Expands Vaccination
South Korean President Moon Jae-in had received his first AstraZeneca vaccine shot on Tuesday, ahead of his trip to the United Kingdom to attend the G7 summit in June.
President Moon, 68, also belonged to the first batch of the people prioritized in the inoculation campaign, including citizens 65 and above and health workers in the government's effort to speed up its vaccination drive.
First lady Kim Jung-sook and nine other aides, including the National Security Advisor Suh Hoon, who will go along with the President on the said international trip, were also vaccinated, said in a statement by his office.
Previously, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited the countries South Korea, Australia, and India to attend the G7 summit as guest nations.
On Tuesday, the government had started to vaccinate some 300,000 South Koreans living at nursing homes and care facilities, aged 65 and older, and medical workers as it paces up its vaccination campaign.
The health authorities intend to vaccinate about a quarter of South Korea's population of 52 million by the month of June and achieve mass immunity by November.
Moreover, the KDCA had allowed important public undertakings, including diplomatic and military tasks, to be inoculated by this month.
Patients and employees from care facilities will receive Oxford's AstraZeneca shot, with some 77% among the 375,000 eligible to support it.
On Monday, authorities had reassured the public of the safety of the vaccine and its non-relation to the earlier reports of blood clotting incidents to those who had been vaccinated in Europe with the said AstraZeneca vaccine.
South Korea had authorized the vaccine brand to be used for people aged 65 years old and above this month after they delayed its roll out to the said age group due to insufficient clinical data.
KDCA had recorded 346 new Covid cases on Monday, bringing the total cases to 99,421 and 1,704 deaths.
The government hopes that the President's vaccination will increase people's trust in the vaccine.
