Vaccination rate of 18-year-olds hits 90%

Student receives a fist bump from a principal at a graduation ceremony held at a school in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. (Yonhap)

As of Saturday, 90.1 percent of 18-year-olds have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, passing the 90 percent threshold. More than 79.6 percent have received a second shot.

However, following the suspension of the vaccine pass enforcement at cram schools, the increase of the overall vaccination rate in minors above 13 has slowed down.

According to the Education Ministry, some 76.2 percent of those aged between 13 and 18 who were born between 2004 and 2009, have received the first shot of the vaccine as of Thursday. The rate was 50.2 percent on Dec. 9, 55.9 percent on Dec.16, 66.2 percent on Dec. 23, 73 percent on Dec. 30, and 76.2 percent on Thursday, which adds up to increases of 5.7 percentage points, 10.3 percentage points, 6.8 percentage points and 3.2 percentage points each week.

The vaccination rate begins to tail off at a certain level, but in other age groups this has started at much higher rates.

On Jan. 4, the court suspended the vaccine mandate measure for education facilities used by young students, which was slated to run from March. The measure was initially set to be implemented from Feb. 1, but had been postponed a month due to objections from groups of parents, cram schools and more.

Though the Education Ministry said, “It is hard to conclude the reason behind the slowdown of the increase,” some are speculating that the court decision has influenced the vaccination of youths.

The ministry cited cold weather and winter vacations to be possible reasons behind the slowdown.

Meanwhile, 135, or 0.3 percent, of 12-year-olds who were born in 2010 have received the first shot of the vaccine. Those born in 2010 whose 12th birthday has passed can be vaccinated for COVID-19.

As of Sunday, 86.4 percent of Koreans have received the first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine while 83.8 percent have received the second dose. Some 41 percent have received the third dose.

By Im Eun-byel(silverstar@heraldcorp.com)