COVID-19 Vaccination Pre-Booking for Ages 18-49 Starts on the 9th
Key Gateway to Achieving Herd Immunity
First Day Targets Birthdates Ending in '9'
Simultaneous Access Ban and Expanded Identity Verification Methods
Pre-booking for COVID-19 vaccination for people aged 18 to 49, which will determine the success of early herd immunity achievement, begins on the 9th. On the first day, those whose birthdate ends with '9', born on the 9th, 19th, or 29th, are eligible. The government has newly introduced measures such as a 10-day reservation system, prohibition of simultaneous access, and expanded identity verification methods to prevent a recurrence of the 'system crash' that was heavily criticized during the 50s age group reservation.
According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, vaccine pre-booking starts on this day for 16.21 million general citizens born between January 1, 1972, and December 31, 2003. Under the newly introduced '10-day reservation system,' the maximum number of daily reservation targets does not exceed 1.9 million. They will receive Pfizer or Moderna messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines on the date and at the institution they choose. The vaccination period is from the 26th of this month to September 30.
Before this pre-booking, the government extensively revamped the reservation system. From this day until the 18th, during the 10-day reservation system period, reservations are made only by people whose birthdate's last digit matches the last digit of the date. For example, someone born on July 23 can make a reservation from 8 p.m. on the 13th until 6 p.m. the next day. Even if they miss the reservation during the 10-day system, they can schedule a reservation from the 19th to the 18th of the following month. In addition to existing identity verification methods such as mobile phone verification, i-PIN, and joint/financial certificates, simple verification through Naver, Kakao, and PASS has been added. This is a measure taken due to previous disconnection issues during identity verification. While diversifying verification methods, the system also informs users of the congestion level for each verification method, from green (smooth) to red (congested), so that reservers can choose an appropriate method. To prevent excessive waiting times, proxy reservations are prohibited. Once identity verification is done on one device, access from other devices is blocked for 10 minutes.
The first test of the improved pre-booking system is expected at 8 p.m. on the first day of the 10-day system. The authorities explained that the system's performance has been improved to handle 2 million reservations per hour, so even if all reservation targets access simultaneously, reservations should be possible within 30 to 50 minutes. Additionally, the authorities plan to announce measures later this week to minimize leftover vaccines discarded due to vaccinations for those under 40.
The government has made thorough preparations for this pre-booking because vaccination for those aged 18 to 49 is considered a key gateway to achieving COVID-19 herd immunity. The authorities plan to complete the first dose for 27 million people, over 50% of the total population, by the end of this month. Then, by September, they aim to administer the first dose to 36 million people, equivalent to 70% of the population, before Chuseok. If the plan proceeds as scheduled, vaccinations for those under 40 will accelerate in September, requiring 9 million people to be vaccinated within about 15 days. As of midnight on this day, the total number of first-dose vaccinations in Korea reached 20,935,989, accounting for 40.8% of the population.
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