The increase in vaccination in South Korea adds momentum to the momentum in Asia

South Korea is on track to inoculate three-quarters of its 52 million population against Covid-19 over the next three months as East Asian government vaccine deployments gain momentum after initial delays.

Seoul health officials announced plans to expand it on Thursday vaccination program to the general public after inoculating 13 million people, a quarter of the population, two weeks earlier than expected.

The increase in vaccinations comes after Asian countries, which outperformed Europe and the United States in their initial responses to the coronavirus pandemic, he was left behind its Western counterparts this year to secure and deliver blows.

The struggles in East Asia were attributed to the lack of local Covid vaccine manufacturers, as well as to the inertia of political leaders after their early success suppressing the virus.

A sharp rise in export growth and signs of inflationary pressures have been masked weaker domestic recoveries throughout the region amid continued social distancing and restrictions on travel, tourism, and mass events.

Société Générale analysts described China’s lack of acceleration in domestic consumption, in particular, as “a major concern,” as the country’s retail and service sectors still perform poorly. recovery of exports set to moderate.

Seoul is in talks with other governments to quickly loosen travel restrictions as vaccination increases.

“The collapse of the services sector – travel, retail, catering and hotels – makes it difficult to create a positive cycle for the economy, despite strong exports,” said Park Chong-hoon, head of research at Standard Chartered in Seoul.

South Korea will also allow citizens to be vaccinated with different blows as part of a plan to explore supply shortages and achieve its herd immunity target in November. This means that some 760,000 people, including healthcare workers who initially received the Oxford / AstraZeneca strokes, can receive their second dose with a BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine.

“Things seem to be going as well as planned by the government, with little public resistance to vaccines,” said Kim Tak, a professor of infectious diseases at Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital.

South Korea’s vaccination rate has surpassed that of neighboring Japan despite Tokyo’s rush to inoculate citizens ahead of the July Olympics. Although both countries had barely started their campaigns in April, the cumulative doses per 100 people in South Korea have risen to more than 30 in recent days, compared to just over 20 in Japan. .

China, which also suffered initial delays, has administered more than 900 million doses to its 1.4 billion population.

Jeong Eun-kyeoung, head of the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency, said doses of 80 million would arrive in South Korea in the third quarter of the year, including doses of ten million in July.

“There is hope to return to ordinary life. . . But we cannot stop the community spread of the virus with the current vaccination rate, ”said Jeong.

To encourage vaccination, South Korea introduces incentives such as allowing vaccinated people to go outdoors without a mask and be exempt from meeting restrictions for more than four people. Inoculation locations are also being expanded to companies with their own medical facilities.

Local confidence has been bolstered by a series of trade agreements between South Korean biopharmaceutical groups and major foreign vaccine developers.

SK Bioscience is contracted to produce AstraZeneca jabs for both domestic and export use. He also signed a license agreement with Novavax produce doses of 40 million for South Korea, as well as a manufacturing contract for global supply.

Samsung Biologics, the country’s largest pharmaceutical contractor, plans to start production of Modern vaccines in the second half of the year for South Korea and the global market, excluding the US. Another biotechnology, GL Rapha, will produce doses of Sputnik V jab from Russia for global use.

Additional reports of Sherry Fei Ju in Beijing