South Korea, Hong Kong administer first coronavirus vaccines

South Korea and Hong Kong administered their first coronavirus vaccines to citizens this week.

South Korea got its first round of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Saturday from the COVAX program run by the World Health Organization and began administering them on Friday at long-term care facilities, The Associated Press reported.

Hong Kong has already filled up registrations for the coronavirus vaccine for the first two weeks. They will use the vaccine by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac.

Both countries, like others around the world, saw a spike in cases over the winter and are working to recover from the outbreak.

South Korea has had more than 88,000 confirmed cases of the virus with over 1,500 deaths. Hong Kong has had more than 10,000 confirmed cases and a little under 200 deaths.

South Korea will be prioritizing those at long-term health care facilities and frontline workers in the first round of vaccinations. 

The second group that will be prioritized are the elderly, paramedics, quarantine workers and general hospital workers.

Hong Kong will be giving the vaccines out for free to its citizen while prioritizing the elderly and healthcare workers first, according to the Associated Press.

The country has struck deals with multiple companies for 22.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. 

The vaccine is a beacon of hope for countries and their ability to be able to reopen their economies. Millions have been vaccinated across the world, but many countries are still a long way off from herd immunity from the virus.