The first shipment of Pfizer vaccines will arrive in South Korea on Friday as the country kicked off its COVID-19 vaccination program nationwide with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

According to health authorities, 117-thousand doses of Pfizer vaccines procured through the UN-backed global supply initiative, COVAC Facility, are set to arrive at Incheon International Airport on Friday afternoon. 
  
The vaccine, enough for 58-thousand-500 people, will be directly transported to five major vaccination centers across the country. 

Inoculation with the Pfizer vaccine will start on Saturday, beginning with the central vaccination center at the National Medical Center in Seoul. 

Three hundred medical workers in the greater metro area, including about 200 workers at the National Medical Center, will be the first to get the Pfizer vaccine.