![On the 16th, a vaccination center in the central region of the Corona 19 vaccine was established at an indoor badminton court in Cheonan, Chungnam. Vaccinations from Pfizer and Moder are in progress here, and all procedures related to vaccination, such as diagnosis and monitoring of adverse events, will be carried out in one space. [사진 = 연합뉴스]](https://i0.wp.com/file.mk.co.kr/meet/neds/2021/02/image_readtop_2021_154423_16134712394543222.jpg?w=560&ssl=1)
On the 16th, a vaccination center in the central region of the Corona 19 vaccine was established at an indoor badminton court in Cheonan, Chungnam. Vaccinations from Pfizer and Moder are in progress here, and all procedures related to vaccination, such as diagnosis and monitoring of adverse events, will be carried out in one space. [사진 = 연합뉴스]The government announced on the 16th that it has signed an additional purchase contract for a total of 23 million people, including 3 million Pfizer vaccines and 20 million NovaVax vaccines, to procure a more stable Corona 19 vaccine in the first half. Accordingly, the amount of vaccines secured by the government amounted to 79 million people (152 million doses) including the existing 56 million people.
The government plans to supply 500,000 Pfizer vaccines to be introduced in the third quarter ahead of the end of March, and NovaVax vaccines will begin inoculation from the second quarter.
Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun said at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on the same day, “We have advanced a certain amount of Pfizer vaccines, which were contracted to supply 10 million people in the first half of the year, and discussed the quantity that can be introduced additionally in the first half.” .
On the 15th, the government signed an additional purchase contract for 3 million Pfizer vaccines (for 6 million doses), and the start of supply from the original third quarter was advanced to the first quarter (end of March).
In this case, Pfizer vaccine will be available for 60,000 people through COVAX (International Vaccine Supply Organization) in the first quarter and 7 million doses and 3.5 million doses in the second quarter through early supply with this contract.
It is of special significance that the government has secured an additional 20 million NovaVax vaccines, including 3 million Pfizer vaccines. This is because SK Bioscience receives technology transfer and produces and procures NovaVax vaccine in Korea. If it goes smoothly according to the contract signed on the day, it is expected that the NovaVax vaccine, which will never lose efficacy compared to Pfizer and Modena in the second quarter of this year, is expected.
AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine is also produced in Korea, but the immune effect is 62-70%, compared to other vaccines such as Pfizer (95%) and Modena (94.1%), so there was not little distrust among the people.
In particular, it was pointed out that there was a controversy in Europe over the immunity effect over 65 years old, and in Korea, people over 65 years old are excluded from the first vaccination that begins on the 26th, and there is a concern about a disruption in the schedule for the formation of population immunity in November. In the midst of this, the government announced that 20 million NovaVax vaccines were secured and vaccination was possible in the second quarter is helping to relieve anxiety. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Chung Eun-kyung also said, “We will contribute to stable supply and demand through the early introduction of NovaVax vaccine and Pfizer vaccine that can be produced and supplied in Korea in a situation where there is a lot of uncertainty in the supply of vaccines worldwide.”
The government has revealed that it has secured 56 million vaccines, but the high possibility of fulfilling its promise in the first half was only about 60,000 Pfizer vaccines through Kovacs and 10 million AstraZeneca produced in Korea. For this reason, unlike other countries that are accelerating vaccination, there were many concerns that the government would not keep its promises properly and demand only quarantine rules such as distance and wearing masks, thereby causing considerable backlash from the public.
The NovaVax vaccine showed an average of 89.3% prevention in a phase 3 clinical trial conducted in the UK last month on 15,000 adults aged 18-84. In addition, the prevention effect was 95.6% for the COVID-19 virus without mutation, and 85.6% and 60% for the mutant virus in Britain and South Africa, respectively. Pfizer, Moder, or Vaccines have no official evaluation of the South African mutation. Above all, NovaVax’s clinical trial subjects are 27% over the age of 65 and include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections.
NovaVax was developed as a synthetic antigen method used for vaccination against influenza or hepatitis B.
Synthetic antigen vaccine is a method that induces an immune response by synthesizing an antigenic protein and mixing it with an immune enhancing agent to induce an immune response.It has a long development history and can be stored and distributed at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, and the shelf life is 2 to 3 years. long. This is different from the government-contracted Pfizer-Modena (mRNA) and AstraZeneca-Jansen (viral vector) vaccines. NovaVax vaccine is also given twice.
The securing of NovaVax vaccine is also helping to form collective immunity. 20 million NovaVax and 10 million AstraZeneca are available to 70% of adults over the age of 20 (about 43 million as of the end of 2020) in Korea.
The World Health Organization (WHO) approved the emergency use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on the 15th. Prior to this, the WHO Expert Strategic Advisory Group (SAGE) said it recommended that AstraZeneca vaccine can be used by adults over the age of 18 without age restrictions.
Meanwhile, as of 0 o’clock on the 16th, the number of new corona19 confirmed in Korea rose to 457, and it rose to 400 again in four days after the 12th (403).
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