U.S. service members and civilian workers stationed in South Korea have begun receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the command said Tuesday.
The Associated Press reported that a statement from United States Forces Korea indicated that military and civilian health care workers, as well as command staff and other first responders, would be prioritized first for the vaccine.
“I strongly encourage all eligible individuals to receive the vaccine,” Gen. Robert Abrams told the AP, adding that he had been vaccinated. All service members are encouraged to be vaccinated but do not face a requirement to do so.
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The distribution of the vaccine to U.S. workers and service members in South Korea comes as the country experienced its highest single-day death toll of 40 on Tuesday. South Korea’s government stressed in a statement that it had acquired enough vaccines to inoculate the entire country.
Just under 29,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, primarily as a deterrent to North Korea which has had unsteady relations with South Korea ever since the Korean War.
The South Korea installation was one of roughly a dozen U.S. military bases targeted for the first round of vaccine distribution by the Pentagon. Defense officials received around 44,000 initial doses of the vaccine earlier this month and prioritized a number of bases including some in Germany and South Korea for the initial wave of vaccinations.
The bases were chosen at the time due to their “extra cold storage capability, sizable local populations to vaccinate and medical staff large enough to administer it,” Defense Health Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Place said earlier in December.