The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has found a very low probability of there being a direct link between the administration of flu shots and a number of recent deaths, advising that the flu vaccination program to continue.

The KDCA said Friday it analyzed the individual cases of 26 of the 36 people reported to have died after receiving the flu shot before reaching this conclusion.

Through autopsies, the National Forensic Service found that 13 of the 26 deaths were caused by cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases.

Tests are still under way on seven of the deceased, while autopsies have not been carried out on the remaining six, four of whom were confirmed to have died due to a different illness or suffocation.

Eight of those who died did receive flu shots with the same manufacturing serial number, but again, authorities do not believe there is an issue with the vaccines.

As of 1 p.m. Friday, the KDCA confirmed that at least 36 people have died after receiving vaccination for the seasonal flu, with 30 of those people aged over 60.

The agency said it's not desirable for individual local governments to decide to stop the vaccine program on their own, and stressed that the program must continue as planned.

It said timely vaccinations are crucial to prevent a potential "twindemic" involving both COVID-19 and influenza.

Over 14 million South Koreans have received flu shots so far, with 789 reporting abnormal reactions.