DETAILED VACCINATION PLANS

[Anchor Lead]

Health officials announced yesterday a detailed vaccination plan. Medical professionals who treat COVID-19 patients in frontline hospitals and patients and employees at high-risk convalescent hospitals stand to receive the vaccines first. Vaccinations for the rest of the population is likely to begin this summer.

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​The first group to receive the vaccines will be the frontline medical professionals treating COVID-19 patients. Vaccination will start next month at a vaccination center set up at the National Medical Center. Then, a regional vaccination hub will be established each in the Chungcheong, Honam and Yeongnam regions. The plan is to finish vaccinating 50,000 hospital workers by the end of the first quarter. 780,000 patients and employees at convalescent hospitals and nursing facilities will be inoculated at the same time. Starting in mid-March, medical staff at first-tier general hospitals that treat patients in serious conditions will get shots as will the first responders of COVID-19, such as paramedics and epidemiological investigators. Target groups will increase greatly in May. Some 8.5 million people stand to receive shots., They include the residents and workers at facilities for the elderly and disabled people as well as those over the age of 65.

[Soundbite] JUNG EUN-KYEONG(KDCA DIRECTOR) : "Given the COVID-19 characteristic of high fatality rate among the seniors, our top priority would be minimizing the number of deaths and halting the community spread originating at high-risk facilities."

However, those who have to leave the country urgently to carry out essential government affairs or important economic activities will have to get vaccinated before departure after undergoing strict procedures. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation will provide all the assistance needed in loading the vaccines onto planes from abroad, transporting them to a local airport and transferring them to trucks. A private firm will be in charge of the complicated distribution and storage process, while the military and police forces will be deployed to escort and guard the vaccines.

[Soundbite] PARK JU-KEONG(MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE) : "We will oversee the entire vaccine distribution process and respond to various crisis that could occur during that process."

The government plans to conclude the first round of vaccinations by September in the hopes of forming herd immunity by November.