British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited the pharmaceutical production facility of Wokhart, a pharmaceutical company based in Lexom, Wales, which produces AZD1222, a corona 19 vaccine at AstraZeneca and Oxford University on the 30th of last month (local time).[사진=로이터·연합뉴스]
On the 30th (local time), the UK government issued the world’s first urgent use approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, along with guidelines for changing the vaccination method. The guidelines recommended that adults 18 years of age or older receive two doses of the vaccine (0.5 ml each).
The UK government announced that the infection protection effect began to appear on the 22nd day after the first vaccination of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the 70-80% prevention effect was maintained for up to 12 weeks.
Accordingly, the UK government suggested the interval between the first vaccination and the second vaccination for AstraZeneca’s vaccination method from 4 to 12 weeks, which is the biggest difference compared to other vaccines.
In the case of Pfizer-Bioentech (BNT-162b2) or Modena (mRNA-1272) vaccines, booster shots are usually performed at intervals of 3 to 4 weeks after the first dose to amplify the immune effect. Because.
In this regard, the New York Times (NYT) said, “The British government’s strategy to allow as many people as possible to receive the first dose instead of delaying the second dose”. “Recently, there are 40,000 to 5 new cases a day. He interpreted it as a “go-to-go measure that takes into account the emergency situation that is recording all generations.”
NYT said, “The UK is at the forefront of an experiment to speed up vaccination by breaking away from the vaccination strategy adopted by other countries,” he said. “It is uncertain, but it will have a profound effect.” In fact, the UK pharmaceutical authorities will adopt a strategy to delay the second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine, which was previously approved.
In particular, the UK government said that the AstraZeneca vaccine should be stored in a liquid state at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius image and that it can be handled at temperatures between 2 and 25 degrees Celsius image during vaccination.
This is a condition that can maintain the existing vaccine transport and vaccination system, and it is expected to bring significant progress in large-scale vaccine distribution if combined with the strategy of expanding the first vaccination. Experts believe that if about 70% of the population is vaccinated, it can form collective immunity and end the massive corona19 epidemic.
In this regard, Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard University in the United States, told NYT, “It is a matter of choosing whether to vaccinate more people within a set time or keep the vaccine in the refrigerator for two doses.” “If you look at it as a whole, it would be more useful to save more lives.”
AstraZeneca and Oxford University developed the COVID-19 vaccine’AZD1222′.[사진=AP·연합뉴스]
However, it is also being pointed out that research data is lacking over the results of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In particular, it is not possible to guarantee how long the infection prevention effect will last after the first vaccination.
The 80% of the vaccine efficacy released by the UK government on that day was higher than the average efficacy of ‘70.4%’ in the clinical trial result report submitted by AstraZeneca on the 23rd of last month, but it is difficult to prove this with research data for a month or so. Is coming out.
In this regard, the UK Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) also admitted to the lack of data at a press conference on the 30th, saying that the efficacy of low-dose medication has not yet been fully verified through analysis.
Pfizer, a vaccine launch company, said in a statement that “the research data on the efficacy of the 1st vaccination does not include any preventive effects beyond the 2nd vaccination period.” “The 2nd vaccination is essential to protect the infection as much as possible.”
Despite such controversy, countries around the world seem to welcome the news of the UK government’s approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine. It is based on the judgment that the low price of around $4 and undemanding distribution conditions can dramatically increase the supply of vaccines to both rich and poor countries with medical infrastructure.
Shortly after the UK government announced its approval, South American countries such as Argentina and El Salvador also approved the vaccine, and India soon began reviewing the approval. German health minister Jens Schfan also urged the European Union to rush to approve the vaccine.
On the other hand, in a statement that day, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) made a cautious position that additional information on quality, safety, and efficacy issues is needed for early approval of the vaccine. They expressed an opinion that they could start the approval process in April.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited the pharmaceutical production facility of Wokhart, a pharmaceutical company based in Lexom, Wales, which produces AZD1222, a corona 19 vaccine at AstraZeneca and Oxford University on the 30th of last month (local time).[사진=로이터·연합뉴스]