SEOUL (Reuters) - Nine people have died after getting flu shots in South Korea in the past week, raising concerns over the vaccine’s safety just as the seasonal inoculation programme is expanded to head off potential COVID-19 complications.

However, the start of a free jab programme for around 19 million eligible people was suspended for three weeks after it was discovered that some 5 million doses, which need to be refrigerated, had been exposed to room temperature while being transported to a medical facility.

Officials said 8.36 million people have been given the free flu vaccine since inoculations resumed on Oct.

Adverse reactions - which included fever, diarrhoea and allergies, according to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) chief Jeong Eun-kyeong - were reported in 430 people who received the jabs.

Since 2009, some 25 people who received a seasonal flu vaccination have died, but cause-and-effect has not been established, Jeong said.