SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's health authorities said on Monday that it began administering the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk population, including people with immunocompromised conditions.
Among people who had received the third dose of COVID-19 vaccines, high-risk groups began to receive the fourth jab, or the second booster shot, on Monday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The high-risk groups are some 1.3 million people with weak immune systems and about 500,000 people who work for or are admitted to convalescent hospitals and senior care facilities.
It was aimed at helping prevent critical conditions and deaths among the high-risk groups amid the spread of the Omicron variant, which became a dominant strain here.
The health authorities said it was not considering giving the fourth dose to ordinary people.
In the latest tally, the country has reported 54,619 more COVID-19 cases for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 1,405,246. The daily caseload stayed above 50,000 for the fifth straight day.
The health authorities have warned that the daily new cases could hit as high as 170,000 by the end of this month.
Over 86 percent of the country's total population have been fully vaccinated with two doses, while 57.3 percent of the population have been boosted with additional shots. ■