South Korea will donate 1.6 million vaccine doses to Vietnam and Thailand.

South Korea plans to ship almost 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to Vietnam and Thailand this week, the foreign ministry announced Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian nations struggle to contain the spread of the virus.

The donation comes as South Korea’s vaccination program has accelerated rapidly, with 70 percent of the population expected to be inoculated by the end of the month.

About 62 percent of South Korea’s total population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the nation is expected to ease the most severe restrictions by next month. Thailand has fully vaccinated 33 percent of its population and Vietnam about 17 percent.

About 1.1 million doses will go to Vietnam and 470,000 to Thailand, South Korea’s government said.

South Korea was among the last of the world’s wealthiest nations to start a vaccination program, leading to frustration among citizens who had already spent a year living under restrictions to control the spread of the virus. Eight months later, the country has inoculated more people per capita than the United States, which has secured the largest supply of vaccines in the world. ...