獨 Health authorities recommend excluding AstraZeneca vaccination over the age of 65

The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 28th that German health authorities have recommended a plan to exclude seniors 65 years of age or older from vaccinating the Corona 19 vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Controversy is expected as the Korean government has also decided to import this vaccine.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, which is the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement on the day that “it is not possible to confirm whether the vaccine is effective against the elderly over the age of 65 due to insufficient data currently available.” He added, “The subjects of the AstraZeneca vaccination recommendation are 18-64 years old.”

Earlier in Europe, claims that the AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective in the elderly or that clinical data were lacking continued. On the 26th, the Commissioner of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said, “The data are insufficient because studies have been conducted on only a small number of people to see if the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective for the elderly.” It may be concluded that we should focus and approve the use.” When the EMA presents its conclusions, the EU Commission applies it to all 27 member states. The results of the EMA approval review will be available as early as the 29th.

AstraZeneca’s Corona 19 vaccine is a virus vector vaccine prepared by putting the surface antigen gene of the Corona 19 virus into a chimpanzee adenovirus template. It is a vaccine that is given twice to adults over 18 years of age and administered once more 4-12 weeks later. Overseas, the supply price per bottle (for one dose) is set at 3-5 dollars (about 3300-5400 won).

Vaccines can be stored, transported and handled in refrigerated conditions (2-8 degrees Celsius) for at least 6 months. Accordingly, it is an advantage to be able to inoculate within the existing medical delivery system without establishing a separate distribution system. According to the results of a phase 3 interim analysis published by AstraZeneca, the preventive effect is about 70.4% when the two doses are combined.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is also disrupting production. AstraZeneca was expected to supply 80 million batches to the EU in the first quarter of this year, but on the 22nd, it changed its word that it could supply only 31 million batches, which is 40% of the original promise. As for the reason, it only explains that there is a problem with the production process of factories operating in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Reporter Park Sang-yong [email protected]

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