The nation is tense as public health centers and nursing facilities across South Korea brace for the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations to begin on Friday.

According to authorities on Wednesday, the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in a logistics center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, around two hours after it left SK Bioscience in the southeastern city of Andong, which manufactured them in a consignment deal.

Health authorities and municipal governments are making final preparations for safe and smooth vaccinations as they are scheduled to begin at nursing homes around the country at 9 a.m. on Friday.

The AstraZeneca vaccines must be stored in special refrigerators at between two to eight degrees Celsius.

Some 289-thousand nursing home patients and workers under the age of 65 make up the first group to receive immunizations at either their facilities or public health centers in their jurisdictions.

Around 55-thousand workers at specialized COVID-19 hospitals will be inoculated starting on Saturday, followed by 354-thousand employees at medical facilities at high risk from March 8.

A group of 79-thousand emergency responders and epidemiological investigators will be eligible for the vaccines some time in March.