S. KOREA’S FIRST VACCINATION STATUS

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South Korea has added 1,347 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, due to a drop in testing during the three-day holiday. Health authorities predict that more people will test positive in the wake of the holiday. Over 40 million people have received at least one shot of the two-dose regimen since vaccinations began in February. Starting from Monday, South Koreans can take jabs without making reservations in advance.

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According to data accumulated in the last two weeks, more than eight of the recent ten adult COVID-19 patients aged 18 or older were unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated. The percentage rose to 88 percent among those who are 60 years old or younger, the age group showing a lower vaccination completion rate compared to the elderly. 40 million and 14,000 people have now received at least one shot of the two-dose regimen. That's in 228 days since the country's vaccination campaign began. However, some 5.58 million people aged 18 or above remain unvaccinated. A mere 8.9 percent of them have booked vaccinations and the remaining 5.3 million people have not made reservations to receive the vaccine. In order to boost the vaccination rate, the government now allows unvaccinated adults to walk into clinics and receive vaccines on any day of their choice without making reservations in advance. These walk-in vaccinations were moved up from October 18 to early this week as part of the efforts to vaccinate more people quickly. All they have to do is call a clinic to check if they have sufficient supply.

[Soundbite] Moon Jeong-hae(Doctor) : "If they call and visit us for vaccination, we open new vials and the remaining doses will be used as leftover vaccines."

The nation’s daily COVID-19 tally hovered around the 1,000 level for four consecutive days. But it is predicted that daily infections will increase again in the wake of the latest three-day holiday.

[Soundbite] Kim Ki-nam(COVID-19 Vaccination Taskforce) : "We predict that the number of positive patients will jump again, as travel, movement, and testing increase after the holidays. The holiday effect will last at least for a week."

Beginning today, on Tuesday, booster shots for some 45,000 employees of medical facilities treating COVID-19 has been rolling out. Those scheduled to receive the booster shots would have completed their vaccination more than six months ago. Of children aged between 16 and 17, roughly 424,000 or nearly half of the total have made reservations to receive the shots. Approximately 1,700 pregnant women have booked vaccines, while some 39,000 of high-risk people aged 60 or older have made reservations to receive the booster shots.