President Moon Jae-in said Monday that the government would vaccinate 36 million people, 70 percent of the population, by Sept. 30, stressing that the national immunization program should proceed without a hitch.
"When the third quarter ends, the government will complete providing the first jab for 36 million people, 70 percent of the population," Moon said while presiding over an infection control meeting. "From July, we will also inoculate teachers at kindergartens, daycare centers, elementary, middle, and high schools so that there will be no disruption to normalizing school operations in the second semester."
The president's reassurance came amid lingering concerns about vaccine supply, possibly hindering the administration's vaccination schedule.
"No one had expected that Korea would become a model for quarantine when the number of confirmed cases was the second-highest in the world in the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak," Moon said. "We can become the world’s model for vaccination, too."
The president cited the public’s active participation, health workers’ dedication, and the excellent IT technology demonstrated in quarantine, such as diagnostic kits, drive-through checkups, maps that provided locations that sell masks, as factors that will speed up vaccinations, as shown by minimizing residual syringes and checking leftover vaccines.
"If we take full advantage of our strengths, we will be able to achieve success in vaccination following the success of K-Quarantine," he said. "We should mobilize all our national capabilities to ensure we can achieve such goals."
Moon also stressed that the government would do its best to restore the daily lives of Korean exhausted from the Covid-19 as soon as possible.
"Above all, the government's goal is to help people enjoy the upcoming summer vacation more comfortably, and reunite freely with family members and have talks without face masks during the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day)," he said.
However, Moon noted that a comfortable and safe vacation requires the government's efforts and the entire society.
"I hope that companies will actively cooperate with the government's recommendations, such as providing flexible vacation periods. I also hope that the public does not forget to comply with quarantine rules," he said.
As few can say when the Covid-19 epidemic will end, the government will push for additional vaccine contracts for next year as soon as possible, the chief executive added.
"We will ensure that there is no setback in securing sufficient vaccine supplies by considering the expansion of the age and giving booster shots," he said. "The government will also spare no effort to secure ‘vaccine sovereignty.’"
Moon explained that his administration would strengthen support for local vaccine developers by pre-purchasing products with a high probability of success expected to enter phase 3 clinical trials from the third quarter.
"The government will also speed up establishing the global vaccine partnership with the U.S. as agreed on in last month’s summit meeting," he said. "We will continue to provide support to maximize local vaccine production capacity."
Korea has vaccinated 7,598,787 people – 4,951,596 with the AstraZeneca vaccine and 2,647,191with Pfizer's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 2,958 from the previous day. The figure accounts for 14.8 percent of the country's population.
On Monday, the nation confirmed 485 new cases, including 454 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 144,637.
One more person died of the Covid-19, raising the death toll to 1,974 with a fatality rate of 1.36 percent, and a total of 134,861 people have returned to their daily life after full recovery, up 599 from the previous day. The country's total test numbers are approaching 10 million, which accounts for about a fifth of the country's total population, as it has carried out 9,972,297 tests since Jan. 3 last year.
Authorities said that the low number of new vaccinations and virus cases were due to the fewer injections and tests during the weekend.