South Korea opens COVID-19 vaccine reservations for all adults

FILE PHOTO: A health worker gets a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Seoul, South Korea, March 10, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo/File Photo

SEOUL — South Korea begins opening COVID-19 vaccine reservations for all adults over 18 for the first time on Monday as it scrambles to stave off a rise in sporadic outbreaks, many of them among young, unvaccinated residents.

South Korea was praised for its handling of the virus in the beginning of the pandemic with thorough tracing and testing, but a slow vaccination uptake has overlapped with surge in more transmissible variants.

Some 45% of South Korea’s 52 million population have had at least one dose of vaccine, while just 15% have been fully vaccinated as of Sunday midnight.

The country aims to immunize over 70% of adults by September as it vaccinates those in the 18-49 age bracket with Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech’s products.

Inoculation for the age group is due to start on August 26 and is scheduled to run until September 30.

South Korea’s death rate stands at 1.00% as of Sunday, while the number of serious cases that require ventilators continues to rise, with 367 cases currently rated severe.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,492 new coronavirus cases for Sunday.

Total infections stand at 212,448, with 2,125 deaths since the start of the pandemic.