By Islamuddin Sajid
ANKARA (AA) - South Korea will begin vaccinating children aged 5-11 against COVID-19 from March 31, the country's interior minister announced on Monday.
"The government will carry out vaccination for young children aged between 5-11, who have been excluded from inoculation, from late March," Yonhap News Agency quoted Jeon Hae-cheo as saying.
The safety of COVID-19 vaccines for children has been sufficiently proven abroad, the minister said, adding that vaccination for the age group will be carried out at 1,200 clinics nationwide.
The use of Pfizer vaccine for the age group was approved last month ahead of the reopening of schools for the new spring semester in early March.
According to the Education Ministry, a total of 3.07 million children will be entitled to get vaccinated in the plan.
Infections in South Korea continue to surge since Feb. 15 when the presidential election campaign kicked off, with over 5.4 million cases and 3,432 related deaths recorded in the past 27 days. A record 383,651 cases were confirmed on March 12.
During the last 24 hours, the country reported 309,790 new cases, bringing the total caseload to over 6.86 million, according to the government's COVID-19 portal. With 200 more fatalities, the death toll jumped to 10,595.
The omicron wave is expected to enter its "peak period" this week, the minister said.
Of the 52 million population, 32.1 million people, or 62.6% have received booster shots, while the number of fully vaccinated people is 44.43 million, representing 86.6%.