Ministry decides to provide free COVID

The health ministry on Feb. 22 formally decided to extend the free COVID-19 vaccination program for a year from April.

Details of other related measures given the green light by a panel of experts advising the ministry will be hammered out by the end of March.

One new element approved was to give two shots a year to those considered at higher risk of developing serious symptoms, such as senior citizens and patients with pre-existing medical conditions.

Those individuals will be the only ones asked to consider getting their shots.

The vaccinations are not mandatory under the Immunization Law.

The focus of the vaccination program will shift from preventing a spread of the novel coronavirus to ensuring that high-risk people do not develop serious symptoms. All other people will get only one shot a year.

Each municipal government can decide whether to send vaccination vouchers to residents who are not at high risk of severe symptoms.

Ministry officials had previously considered giving all individuals, even those in the high-risk categories, just one shot a year in the autumn to winter period.

But because the vaccines have been found to lose effectiveness after about six months, the ministry decided to give those at higher risk their first shots from May and their second shots from September.

All other people can begin getting their annual shots from September as well.

Those working at medical institutions and care facilities for senior citizens who are in frequent contact with high-risk individuals will also be asked to receive their shots from May.

The free vaccinations will also be extended for a year from April for children under 12.