South Korea has said 18,489 people received their first doses of AstraZeneca PLC's vaccine by midnight on Friday as it launched an ambitious Covid-19 inoculation campaign, and will begin using Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines today.

According to Reuters, the first to receive the shots are healthcare workers, staffers at assisted care facilities and other high-risk people, with a goal of vaccinating 32 million to 36m people — some 60 to 70 per cent of the population —by September.

The government hopes to reach herd immunity, defined as at least a 70pc vaccine take-up, by November, as health authorities remain on alert for signs of sporadic infections.