The AstraZeneca Vaccine for a Total of 780,000 People to Be Gradually Delivered over 5 Days until February 28

[경향신문]

On February 24, the day when the AstraZeneca vaccine--the first COVID-19 vaccine in South Korea--was first delivered, the number of new daily cases of the novel coronavirus exceeded 400 again. The government will announce an adjusted physical (social) distancing level, which will be applied next week, on February 26.

At around 10 a.m. this morning, the AstraZeneca vaccine for 173,500 people was transported from the SK Bioscience factory in Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do and two and a half hours later arrived at the logistics center in Icheon-si, Gyeonggi. The vaccine traveled a distance of 184 km. For five days until February 28, 1.57 million doses of the vaccine (for 780,000 people) will be delivered to over 1,900 care hospitals and public health centers nationwide.

The vaccines were transported on 5-ton refrigerated trucks. These trucks, equipped with a device to monitor the temperature in the vehicle and a GPS, will enable authorities to monitor the cold-chain status and real-time location necessary for the storage and transportation of the vaccine. For the safe transportation of the vaccine, military and police cars, motorcycles and buses will escort the trucks. Ahn Seong-sik, head of the expressway patrol unit at the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency said, “We took a lot of care to prevent any acts of terror or accidents in the transportation process.”

Security was tight at the logistics center, designated as a national security facility. The vaccines stored in the logistics center will be sorted and wrapped before they are distributed to care hospitals and public health centers nationwide on February 25. The delivery of the vaccines will begin at 5:30 a.m. this morning, and authorities will begin administering the vaccine to patients and staff under the age of 65 at care hospitals and facilities nationwide.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight this day they confirmed 440 new cases of COVID-19. The average number of daily cases in the past week (Feb. 18-24) was 427, which requires a level 2.5 physical distancing.