Anchor: COVID-19 vaccinations in South Korea are gradually picking up speed with additional shipments of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines coming in this week. With fear over safety still lingering, the government began medical payouts for cases of severe illness after vaccination even if causality is not proven.
Choi You Sun reports.
Report: Health authorities said on Monday that 940-thousand-345 people, or one-point-eight percent of the population, have completed their COVID-19 vaccinations, while three-point-73 million, or seven-point-three percent, have received at least their first shot.
While concerns over safety have discouraged some people from getting the vaccine, the government has expanded medical coverage to serious post-inoculation illnesses, even if there is no proven causal link to the vaccine.
Up to ten million won will be offered to each person and there is retroactive application.
Vaccinations that slowed due to a supply shortage are picking up speed, with the latest shipment of AstraZeneca shots, which was directly purchased by the government.
The two-dose vaccines sufficient for 534-thousand people left an SK Bioscience factory in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, Monday morning, for a warehouse in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. They will then be distributed to vaccination sites.
Out of seven-point-23 million doses, enough to cover three-point-61 million people, that are scheduled to arrive in the country during the second quarter, shipments of one-point-66 million doses have so far been completed.
As one-point-75 million doses of Pfizer vaccines are scheduled to arrive this month, the first round of Pfizer inoculations for seniors aged 75 or older and those living or working at nursing facilities will resume on Saturday.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.