US Forces Korea to begin COVID-19 vaccination Tuesday
A FedEx flight carrying Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine reserved for U.S. Forces Korea members in South Korea arrives at Incheon International Airport, Dec. 25. The vaccines were transported to Brian D. Allgood Army Community Hospital at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Yonhap
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) will start administering its initial doses of a COVID-19 vaccine this week, beginning with health care workers, officials said Monday.
USFK received the first shipment of Moderna's vaccine on Friday as Camp Humphreys was chosen by the U.S. government as one of four sites outside the continental U.S. that will receive the initial vaccination.
"The inoculation will begin (Tuesday) on three locations ― our Pyeongtaek, Osan and Kunsan Bases," a USFK official said Monday. "According to our phased distribution plan, front-line health care workers and first responders will get the first opportunity."
The vaccine will be administered in three phases, and around 100 people will get the shot first, he added.
USFK commander Gen. Robert Abrams said earlier that his command is expected to receive additional shipments for all eligible USFK-affiliated community members as production and distribution increases.
The vaccine was authorized for emergency use and vaccination is voluntary, but the command strongly recommends its members receive the vaccine.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Moderna's vaccine earlier this month as the country's second COVID-19 vaccine after Pfizer's.
Around 40 South Korean service members affiliated with the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army, known as KATUSA, are working at Allgood Army Community Hospital inside Camp Humphreys, and they could also be subject to the inoculation, officials said.
"Currently, working-level talks between the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), USFK and the defense ministry are under way about the matter," ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-chan told a regular briefing.
USFK is expected to make an official request for formal consultations with the Seoul ministry, and the two sides will make a related decision accordingly, a ministry official said. (Yonhap)