Some 760,000 South Koreans who have received a first dose of AstraZeneca Plc's (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine will be offered Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) vaccine as a second shot due to shipment delays by global vaccine sharing scheme COVAX, the government said.
Some 835,000 doses of the AstraZeneca's vaccine from COVAX were scheduled to arrive by the end of June, which South Korea planned to use mainly as a second shot for around 760,000 health and frontline workers who had received their first dose in April.
The shipment is delayed to July or later, while the country had used up available AstraZeneca reserves to meet stronger than expected participation in its vaccination campaign which helped the country meet its first-half inoculation target ahead of schedule. Over 27% of its 52 million population have been inoculated with at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday, and the country is on track to meet a target of 70% by September and reach herd immunity before November.
South Korea said last month it will conduct a clinical trial that mixes COVID-19 doses from AstraZeneca with those from Pfizer and others.It has so far run a trial in 100 health workers to examine the formation of antibody and other immune effects, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a briefing on Thursday.
South Korea reported 507 new infections by midnight on Wednesday, for a tally of 150,238 cases, the KDCA said, with a death toll of 1,996 since the pandemic began.More from ReutersSubscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
CNN analysis: Where vaccination is up, Covid-19 cases are downA CNN analysis found that states that have fully vaccinated over half of their residents tend to have lower-than-average case rates that are trending down, while states that have vaccinated less than half of their residents had higher average case rates.
Read more »
Cases of a dangerous Covid-19 variant are 'rapidly increasing' in US, expert saysAs US states lift more coronavirus restrictions, experts are worried people who aren't fully vaccinated could contribute to further spread of the virus.
Read more »
Pediatricians work to close gaps in Covid-19 vaccine coverage by vaccinating adultsAs pediatricians vaccinate newly eligible children and teens against Covid-19, some of them say they are giving just as many shots to adults.
Read more »
Brazil registers 74,042 new Covid-19 cases – latest updatesBrazil registers 74,042 new Covid19 cases and 2,311 deaths. Other updates: 🇹🇷 Turkey administers over 1.58M vaccine shots in last 24 hours 🇷🇺 Jabs in 4 Russian regions now mandatory for some 🇬🇧 England invites all adults to get their vaccines For more:
Read more »
COVID-19 May Have Been in U.S. by Christmas 2019A new analysis of blood samples reveals the coronavirus possibly arrived in the U.S. as early as December 2019.
Read more »