Korea plans to vaccinate 13m against swine flu

From news reports



The government plans to vaccinate 13.4 million people against swine flu starting in November to prevent an outbreak in the winter, the Finance Ministry said yesterday.

The figure includes 7.5 million primary and secondary students as well as 660,000 soldiers. The government expects to spend about 174.8 billion won ($135 million) for the vaccines.

The vaccination will be available beginning in November, ahead of the winter flu season, it added.

The health authorities said they have confirmed an additional 66 cases of influenza A, bringing the nation`s total number of flu infections to 561 as of yesterday.



The new patients, including 23 Indonesians, tested positive for the H1N1 virus after showing flu-like symptoms upon their recent arrival here, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said in an e-mailed statement.

The Indonesians came to South Korea last week to participate in a world choir competition held in the country`s southeast. Six South Korean nationals were infected via contact with the foreign choir members. The remaining schedule for the event has been called off, organizers said.

South Korea has been relatively insulated from the global pandemic, which has claimed hundreds of lives since the disease was first identified in April. No deaths have been reported here.

There is growing concern that the disease could begin to spread more quickly, as the number of reported infections is rising fast.

Three quarantine workers were recently confirmed to be infected with the disease, pointing to a need for vaccine development.