Astra, first inoculation from under 65 years old… The elderly are judged at the end of March

On the 26th, about 270,000 people under the age of 65 among residents and employees of nursing hospitals and facilities will be vaccinated for the first time in Korea with the AstraZeneca vaccine. 400,000 senior citizens aged 65 years or older, such as nursing hospitals, decided to postpone vaccination until the end of next month, when additional clinical data are available that will alleviate controversy about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

AstraZeneca vaccine. Reuters = Yonhap News

On the 15th, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced the’Corona 19 vaccination February-March implementation plan’. According to the plan, from the 26th, 272,131 hospitalized, residents, and workers under the age of 65 in nursing hospitals, facilities, mental hospitals, mental care and rehabilitation facilities, etc., will start vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. These are about 42% of the total 648,855 people. The remaining 37,6734 elderly people aged 65 or older decided to re-determine the vaccination plan after reviewing the Vaccination Specialist Committee after confirming additional clinical information on the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the end of next month. AstraZeneca is expected to submit phase 3 clinical data for its vaccine to the United States around the end of March. Experts say this will include a large number of older people, which will resolve the controversy over the effectiveness of prevention.

Plan to introduce the first vaccine in Korea. Graphic = Kim Eun-kyo [email protected]

Nursing hospitals where doctors work are inoculated within the institution, while nursing facilities and mental health rehabilitation facilities are visited by a health center visiting team consisting of 1 doctor, 1 nurse, and 2 administrative personnel. In the case of nursing facilities, it is possible to inoculate a public health center depending on local conditions. After the first vaccination is finished by next month, the second vaccination is scheduled to proceed from April to May.

Next month, 354039 medical personnel from senior hospitals (45 locations), general hospitals (315 locations), hospitals (1490 locations), etc., which are frequently used by severely ill patients, as well as 119 paramedics, quarantine officers, epidemiological investigators, and other Corona 19 first responders 7 8,513 people will also be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Hospitals have their own vaccinations at each institution, and corona responders are given vaccinations at public health centers. They will finish the first vaccination next month and the second vaccination in May.

Vaccination plan by vaccine. Graphic = Kim Hyun-seo [email protected]

Pfizer’s vaccine, which will be introduced through Cobax Facility, a global vaccine co-purchase council, will be introduced from the end of this month to the beginning of next month, and it will be vaccinated to 54729 medical professionals such as hospitals dedicated to bases, hospitals for infectious diseases, severe patient treatment beds, and life treatment centers. . At the beginning of the announcement at the end of last month, the first-line medical staff was expected to be the first vaccination target, but the schedule was adjusted as the introduction of Pfizer was delayed. In order to minimize the gap in responding to Corona 19, it is a principle to deliver vaccines to each hospital and inoculate themselves, but those with fewer than 120 inoculations should visit the central and regional vaccination centers to inoculate them.

Although the timing of the introduction of the Pfizer vaccine has not been confirmed, according to this plan, about 760,000 people will complete the first dose with AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccine within one quarter. As the elderly aged 65 years or older, such as nursing hospitals, fell out of the target, fewer than 1.3 million people planned to finish the first vaccination within March.

As vaccinations for the elderly such as nursing hospitals, which were the top priority vaccination targets, are being pushed back, concerns arise. There has been controversy over the lack of efficacy data, but many experts have expressed opinions that the elderly should also be vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine as there is no safety problem and there is no other alternative due to the vaccine supply schedule. Many European countries, such as Germany, France, and Sweden, have withheld vaccination for the elderly due to the lack of verification of the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the elderly, but in the UK, vaccination is given regardless of age. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) over 65 Has been recommended for vaccination. Jeong Jae-hoon, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University Gil Hospital, said, “In the case of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the evidence for the effectiveness of the elderly is lacking, and it is not a safety issue.

Lebanese medical staff are holding a Pfizer vaccine on the 14th. Countries around the world, including the United States and European advanced countries, as well as Lebanon, have already secured the Corona 19 vaccine and entered the vaccination, but only on the 24th, Korea will receive the first AstraZeneca vaccine, which is highly controversial for efficacy. [로이터=연합뉴스]

Experts say they are particularly concerned as the vaccination target for older people is aimed at lowering mortality. Even if the infection caused by workers can be prevented to some extent, there is still a risk that the residents will eventually become infected and spread within the facility.
Professor Jeong Jae-hoon said, “It will not have a big impact on the overall vaccination schedule such as group immunity, but rapid vaccination is needed to protect the public from the 4th and 5th epidemic.” It could be a problem when the 4th outbreak is expected.”

It is known that while the Vaccination Specialized Committee agrees with this concern, there has been controversy over the condition that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety recently allowed the AstraZeneca vaccine and placed the condition that the vaccination for the elderly was carefully decided under the judgment of the doctor.

A member of the Vaccination Specialized Committee said, “The majority agreed on the principle that there is no problem in safety, etc.,” but “There is a controversy among the medical staff about whether to leave the responsibility to the doctor over the recommendation of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. I decided it would be. It can be an obstacle to increasing the vaccination rate in the long term, so it was concluded that people over 65 are excluded.”

If additional clinical data at the end of next month do not demonstrate the effectiveness, the vaccination for the elderly may be pushed further. In this case, older people may have to delay vaccination until the time other vaccines such as Janssen and Modena are available.

Reporters Hwang Soo-yeon and Lee Woo-rim [email protected]