U.S. - 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.

U.S. - South Korea sought on Monday to dispel concerns over the safety of its seasonal influenza vaccine, urging it on citizens in a bid to avert stress on a health system that is already grappling with the coronavirus.

U.S. - The number of South Koreans who have died after getting flu shots has risen to 48, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Saturday, adding that the vaccines would continue to reduce the chance of having simultaneous epidemics.

Mail Online - The deaths include a 17-year-old boy and a man in his 70s with Parkinson's disease, and come as South Korea plans to ramp up the winter jab programme because of Covid-19 (file photo).

CA - Singapore has temporarily halted the use of two influenza vaccines as a precaution after some people who received them in South Korea died, becoming among the first countries to publicly announce a halt of the vaccines' usage.

Los Angeles Times - The surge in plastic waste caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may push over the edge an already fragile ecosystem of recycling plastic, already strained by falling oil prices and interruptions in the global trade in recyclables.