VACCINATIONS BEGIN FOR SENIOR EMPLOYEES

[Anchor Lead]

COVID-19 vaccinations have begun today for patients and employees of nursing hospitals and care homes who are aged 65 or above. Some hospitals began receiving additional vaccines Monday.

[Pkg]

Starting today, COVID-19 vaccinations will be administered to patients and employees of nursing hospitals and care homes who are aged 65 or above. The number of those eligible for the inoculation totals 375,000 across the nation. Nearly 77 percent of them have given their consent to inoculation. Nursing hospitals plan to complete the administration of first doses in two weeks while it will take as long as six weeks at care homes. They have chosen different periods in order to prevent a possible vacuum in caring for patients, which could be caused by the absence of nurses and caregivers suffering from adverse reactions following vaccination. President Moon Jae-in and First Lady Kim Jung-sook got vaccinated with AstraZeneca shots today ahead of their trip for the G7 summit in June.

[Soundbite] "A total of eleven people are going to get vaccinated?"

Community health centers are busy making preparations for vaccinations at nursing facilities. In particular, they focus on how to properly address allergic reactions following vaccination.

[Soundbite] Chung Sang-im(Guro-gu Dist. Community Health Center) : "Following vaccination, patients must be monitored in one-on-one or one-on-three settings. Please give the hospitals more phone calls and ask them if they need us to send more personnel."

At vaccine storage facilities, it is most crucial to maintain the appropriate temperature.

[Soundbite] Choi Soo-jin(Guro-gu Dist. Community Health Center) : "As the cold chain must be maintained, I just checked if the vaccines are now stored at the appropriate temperature."

Staffed with medical workers, nursing hospitals are able to administer the vaccines on their own and will receive additional amounts of vaccines. The additional supply already arrived at some hospitals Monday. Others are scheduled to soon receive supplementary doses one after another.