S Korea vows to launch COVID-19 vaccination after monitoring situation in other countries

South Korea will roll out its vaccination campaign against coronavirus after sufficiently monitoring the results of the vaccines' use in other countries, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Wednesday.

"Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, where the COVID-19 situation is more serious, are already talking about the vaccination. Our government puts the safety of its citizens first and will do everything to start vaccination with the vaccines we purchased in due time, carefully observing the situation in other countries," Chung said at a meeting of the government's COVID-19 response centre.

According to the Prime Minister, the government is currently carefully planning a vaccination program, including the selection of the first recipients of COVID-19 vaccines and logistics.

"We carefully prepare systems for storage and distribution of vaccines, subsequent monitoring and crisis response, as well as determine the groups of citizens for priority vaccination. It will take more time to carry out the coronavirus vaccination in a normal way and you can see its result," Chung added.

The South Korean authorities have earlier expressed readiness to set up special vaccination centres or reconstruct existing storage facilities to maintain extremely cold temperatures, given that the Pfizer vaccine requires special storage conditions -- -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit).

So far, the Asian country's government has reached agreements on COVID-19 vaccine supply with AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson's Janssen i Moderna, as well as secured doses for up to 44 million people. The country has also preordered 64 million doses of vaccines for 34 million people, with the deliveries scheduled for as early as February. (/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )