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S.Korea ready for vaccine roll out as shipment begins for doses
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Top Stories |
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IANS | 25 Feb, 2021
South Korea has set the ball rolling for the nationwide Covid
vaccination roll out as the first batch of about 1.5 million vaccine
doses headed to the country, which is nearing 90,000 cases since the
outbreak of the pandemic in January last year.
The nationwide
distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine for some 750,000 people, mostly
health care workers and patients at nursing homes, came as the country
is set to kick off the free inoculation campaign on Friday, Yonhap
reported.
The vaccine doses were produced at a local plant by SK
Bioscience Co. under a manufacturing partnership deal with
British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
The sealed
one-ton truck, escorted by the police and military vehicles and
personnel, first left a cold chain logistics warehouse in Icheon, 80
kilometers southeast of Seoul, around 5:50 a.m. (local time).
The
first shipment for a total of 55 container trucks was delayed for
around two hours at the site due to extra caution about maintaining
storage temperatures, health authorities said.
A total of 1.57
million doses of vaccines under AstraZeneca's full two-dose regimen will
be delivered to a total of 1,900 long-term care hospitals and public
health centers across the country for the next five days.
The
first batch of AstraZeneca's vaccine is enough to provide jabs to
785,000 people, which is 35,000 higher than the previous estimate.
The
AstraZeneca vaccine is deemed more convenient for mass inoculations as
its storage temperature is 2 to 8 C, compared with the vaccine by US
pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. that requires ultra-cold chain storage.
According
to health authorities, a total of 289,271 people, or 93.6 per cent of
the patients and people working at facilities including sanatoriums,
nursing facilities and rehabilitation facilities will receive the first
shot.
Meanwhile, Pfizer's vaccine will be offered to medical
staff members starting Saturday. South Korea hopes to attain herd
immunity by November after inoculating 70 percent of its population by
September.
On Thursday, the country reported 396 more virus
cases, raising the total caseload to 88,516. Thursday's daily caseload
marks a slight drop from 440 posted the previous day. The figures
hovered above 600 last week before falling below 500 over the weekend
and under 400 earlier this week on fewer tests.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
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66.20
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64.50 |
UK Pound
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87.50
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84.65 |
Euro
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78.25
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75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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