South Korea has approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5-11 amid the spread of the Omicron coronavirus strain in the country.

The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety made this known on Wednesday.

Pfizer applied for the permit on February 4, after reviewing the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

The ministry approved the use of Pfizer at two doses for one person with a dosage of 0.1 milligrams per millilitre.

“Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the use of the imported Pfizer Korea ‘Comirnaty 0.1 mg/ml (for children 5-11 years)’ vaccine for people 5-11 years old,” the ministry said in a statement.

Children would be given two injections with an interval of three weeks.

Those with severely low immunity would receive a booster shot four weeks after their second shot, the statement read.

According to the statement, the decision was made due to an increase in COVID-19 cases amid the spread of the Omicron variant and the risk of severe cases of the coronavirus among children.

Earlier in the day, South Korea registered 171,452 cases of COVID-19 over the past day, becoming the highest number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Overall, South Korea has seen 2,329,182 COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with 969,524 recoveries and 7,607 deaths.

Already 58.6 per cent of the country’s population has been vaccinated against COVID-19 with a booster vaccine dose.

(Sputnik/NAN)