The Ministry of National Defense said Monday that it will consult with health authorities as it prepares to receive new coronavirus jabs from the US to vaccinate 550,000 Korean soldiers. The supply could cover the entire armed forces.

The aid comes as part of a comprehensive COVID-19 partnership that President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden reached at their in-person meeting in the US last week.

The Korean military, which has yet to find out when it is receiving the vaccines or which vaccine it will get, has finished giving first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to about 80 percent of all service members aged 30 and above, and plans to inoculate younger troops as early as next month.

A week earlier, the US military offered Johnson & Johnson vaccines to Korean troops. Neither side confirmed how many shots were administered.

South Korea -- which aims to reach herd immunity by September, much earlier than the November deadline it had set -- is struggling with its vaccination campaign as global shortages and shipment delays have thwarted a successful rollout and fueled public skepticism over the government’s promise.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)