Moon, first lady to receive COVID-19 vaccines next week

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook will receive COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday next week ahead of their planned trip to the UK for the G-7 summit in June, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday.

The presidential couple will be given the two-dose AstraZeneca vaccines like other citizens here, the presidential office added.

“Their planned vaccination also aims to eradicate safety and efficacy concerns surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Moon’s spokesperson Kang Min-seok said in a news briefing.

As the nation’s first round of vaccinations is expected to be completed this week, health authorities plan to start administering AstraZeneca vaccines to people aged 65 or older from next week. 

Moon, 68, and Kim, 67, will be the first to get vaccinated among the age group as the trip is deemed essential for public purposes.

Currently, two types of vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer are being administered here. While the smaller batch of Pfizer vaccines are given to medical workers, ordinary citizens are getting AstraZeneca vaccines.

More details on the vaccination schedule, including the time and place, were not disclosed immediately due to security issues. 

South Korea is attending the first face-to-face gathering of the seven nations in two years as a guest nation, along with India and Australia. Of the G-7 leaders, President Joe Biden of the US is the only one who has been vaccinated for now.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)