S.Korea COVID-19 vaccine rollout grinds to halt as new cases spike

SEOUL: South Korea's rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations to people aged 55-59 has stuttered to a week-long halt after a spike in new cases sparked a rush for shots, booking up available supplies and crashing the official government reservation website.

The halt in vaccination appointments for people in the upper 50s age bracket came late on Monday, the first day that inoculation bookings were opened to under-60s. It came as daily infections, featuring the highly contagious Delta variant, came in at 1,150, a seventh straight day of more than 1,000 cases - the country's worst coronavirus outbreak so far. While South Korea is ahead of its schedule in vaccination target, the pace has slowed sharply in recent weeks to around 30,000 doses a day from a peak of 850,000 earlier, as it finalises shipment schedules to begin Moderna COVID-19 inoculations for people in their 50s.