South Korea's waiting game with the COVID-19 vaccine • 7 min read New details to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations As the U.S. surpasses 21 million confirmed cases, the White House Coronavirus Task Force called on states to ramp up vaccinations, especially among the elderly and vulnerable.Simon Shin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images, FILE SEOUL -- South Korea has widely been praised for its relatively successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to its rigorous contact tracing, mass testing capacity, and high degree of compliance in wearing masks. The nation of 51.80 million has had 67,358 cases and 1,081 deaths as of Jan. 8. Despite experiencing three waves of spikes so far, its daily cases peaked at 1,241.