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At a COVID-19 vaccination center in Seoul on Monday, people sit and wait in a monitoring area after receiving their vaccine. (Yonhap News)

Fifty percent of South Korea’s population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a milestone reached 218 after the country first started vaccinations. The final vaccine reservation rate among unvaccinated people was 8.9%.

South Korea’s COVID-19 vaccination response team announced on Monday that as of the end of Sunday, 541,143 people had been fully vaccinated, bringing the cumulative number to 25,713,009.

This number represents 50.1% of the total population. If narrowed to include only those aged 18 and older — the age group eligible to receive a vaccine — this means that 58.2% of those eligible have been fully vaccinated.

Since vaccines were rolled out on Feb. 26, a total of 39,347,573 — or 76.6% of the total population — has received at least a partial dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

On Monday, Hwang Kyeong-won, head of the vaccination response team’s planning group said, “If vaccinations continue at this rate, we anticipate we will reach the goals of having 70% of the population and 80% of adults fully vaccinated by the end of October.”

By Kwon Ji-dam, staff reporter

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