Credit to Arirang News
South Korea's mass immunization campaign is picking up pace amid safety concerns.
While no direct link is found, three more post-vaccination deaths reported, all of them AstraZeneca's.
Authorities are following up with meticulous investigations.
In Germany, there's a changing stance on the AstraZeneca vaccine, allowing over-65s to receive the jab, claiming recent studies provided enough data.
Kim Dami has our top story.
Three more AstraZeneca vaccine recipients died on Thursday, two were in their 50s and one was in their 20s.
Both of those in their 50s were patients at nursing hospitals in Jeollabuk-do Province and had underlying conditions.... cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
While the first patient died two days after getting the shot, the second person died just one day after.
The person in their 20s, who suffered from epilepsy, died at a nursing hospital in the city of Daejeon... two days after being given the vaccine.
This brings the country's total vaccine deaths to five.
While health authorities believe there is no causal effect, the country's Prime Minister has vowed for a full investigation.
"The government will thoroughly investigate the deaths and openly share the results. So please believe in the government and get your vaccine shots."
515 new cases of AstraZeneca vaccine side effects were filed on Thursday, raising the total to 722.
But the country's nationwide vaccination program continues... with patients and medical staff at hosptials designated by the health ministry to treat people in critical condition.
The President of Seoul National University Hospital, Kim Yon-su,... who got the hospital's very first jab, reassures people that there is no reason to be particularly concerned.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 variant cases continue to pop up, though most are being identified in people arriving from overseas.
The country added six more variant cases on Thursday, five from abroad and one domestic infection, making a total of 162.
Kim Dami, Arirang News.
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