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SEOUL, Dec 18 (Reuters) - South Korea reported 1,062 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the second highest since it confirmed its first infection in January, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Reuters: The daily numbers were above 1,000 for the third straight day for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the KDCA data showed.
Separately, recent comments from the South Korean government show that SK has yet to sign a forrmal COVID-19 vaccine contract with Pfizer, Janssen or Moderna. AstraZeneca is the one producer SK has formally struck a deal with.
SK government had announced on Dec 8 that it signed deals to vaccinate 44 million people. But in reality SK only has 20 million doses locked in through AstraZeneca at present, which would vaccinate 10 mln.
Pfizer's vaccine has rolled out in some countries already and Moderna's is not going to be far behind. But at this current juncture SK may not have access to either for several months with no contract in place.
This has, understandably, made some folks in South Korea rather angry. They have been living under some form of social distancing for most of the year and were voluntarily taking precautions, but they feel the govt let them down by not locking in supplies when it could have
SK Health Minister Park Neung-hoo's comments in parliament last month suggested the ministry was wary of buying too many doses because they would become unusable after a few months. Park also claimed that certain age groups will refuse to be vaccinated.
said age group was the younger generation, he clarified later.
