South Korea has rolled out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from Saturday, a day after launching its mass immunization program for COVID-19 starting with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The first group to receive the Pfizer shots are 55-thousand front-line medical workers who are treating coronavirus patients.

On Saturday, 300 of them will receive the first jabs at the National Medical Center, with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun visiting to observe the process.

On Friday, the AstraZeneca vaccine was administered to some 18-thousand-500 residents and employees under 65 at nursing hospitals and facilities nationwide.

The first day tally represents six-point-four percent of the nearly 300-thousand patients and workers at these senior care facilities who will get vaccinated.  It also accounts for point-04 percent of Korea's population of 52 million.