Over 10% of Korean population receive first vaccine
As of Saturday midnight, 10.5 percent of Korea’s population, or 5,399,015 people, had received one dose of a covid-19 vaccine.
AstraZeneca vaccines were given to 3,268,001 people, while 2,131,014 received Pfizer’s.
As of Saturday, 4.2 percent, or 2,143,293 people, had been fully vaccinated.
According to the covid-19 Vaccination Task Force, 163,457 people got their first shots Saturday.
The country hit a record number of vaccinations for a single day with 657,192 on Thursday, the first day vaccinations for people aged 65 to 74 began. Some 542,227 got shots on the second day, Friday.
The number of vaccinations decreased to 171,989 on Saturday, partly due to the closure or shorter operating hours of medical institutions on the weekend.
The government plans to inoculate 13 million by the end of June and 36 million by the end of September, and reach herd immunity no later than November.
Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases fell back into the 400s on Sunday for the first time in 20 days, although fewer tests are conducted over the weekend.
The country reported 480 new covid-19 cases, including 464 local infections, raising the total caseload to 139,910, the KDCA said.
There were six additional virus deaths, raising the death toll to 1,957.