[서울Pn] [보도자료] Prime Minister’s emergency order on AstraZeneca vaccine

Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun, AstraZeneca vaccine
Urgent instruction on safety controversy

□ On the morning of today (3.19), Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, gave the following urgent instructions to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety regarding the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has recently been controversial in some countries, including Europe.

□ Instructions
《Emergency Order by the Prime Minister on Controversy on the Safety of AstraZeneca Vaccine》

ㅇ The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have each announced the results of discussions such as an expert committee on the point that’AstraZeneca vaccination and blood clots are not related’.

* (WHO) In an official statement, △Thrombosis is a common disease irrespective of vaccination, and △The benefit of the vaccine is greater than the risk, and countries are recommended to continue vaccination (3.17)

(EMA) safety committee held, concluded that the same vaccine was not associated with an increased overall risk of thrombosis (3.18)

ㅇ Given the results of such verification by international organizations and adverse reaction cases confirmed so far, the government judged that there was no reason to stop the AstraZeneca vaccination currently in progress in Korea.

ㅇ However, given the situation that the AstraZeneca vaccine needs to be expanded continuously, the public should not have any doubts or anxiety about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

ㅇ Therefore, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) should promptly convene the Vaccination Specialized Committee and thoroughly review the recent evaluation data such as WHO·EMA and domestic adverse reaction cases together with experts to clarify their position.

ㅇ In addition, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which is in charge of supervising the safety of pharmaceuticals, should conduct a professional and scientific evaluation of the possibility of causing blood clots of AstraZeneca vaccine, and disclose the results transparently.