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According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 6th local time, a study at Oxford University and the University of Bittersland in South Africa showed that two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine did not prevent the development of mild and moderate symptoms caused by the South African mutant virus. Oxford University and AstraZeneca have announced plans to produce a next-generation vaccine against mutations by the fall of this year. Other vaccines such as Pfizer, Modena and Janssen are not very different.
There is a bigger problem. It is the controversy over the effectiveness of the elderly. Germany, France, and Sweden have already decided to use the AstraZeneca vaccine only for those under the age of 65, Poland under the age of 60, and Italy and Belgium under the age of 55. In addition, Switzerland withheld approval for use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, saying it needs additional research data.
The Central Pharmacist Review Committee, the second expert advisory stage of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, also cautioned against the AstraZeneca vaccine on the 5th, saying, “For those over 65 years old, there is not enough data on the effectiveness of the vaccine. A permission opinion was issued. This is the conclusion after a five and a half hour marathon meeting. Earlier, the first COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness verification advisory group concluded that there is no problem with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Although the specific schedule is undecided, the scope of use of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be finally decided through the final inspection committee of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the vaccination committee of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to experts’ judgment, there is a possibility that the use of the elderly will become difficult.
As suspicion about the AstraZeneca vaccine continued to grow, even the British government, where the headquarters was located, began to evolve controversy. According to the BBC Broadcasting and Reuters news agency on the 5th of local time, the UK’s independent regulatory agency, MHRA, conducted a safety-related analysis on 7 million people who had been vaccinated by the 24th of last month. Most of them received the Pfizer vaccine, and some received the AstraZeneca vaccine. MHRA Commissioner John Lane reiterated that the analysis showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine was also effective in the elderly, including those over 65 years old.
Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun expressed his confidence on his Facebook page on the 6th, saying, “The government will do our best to write the K vaccination myth that the people can trust and participate by reorganizing and supplementing the response manuals for various crisis situations.” In fact, according to the Korea Disease Service Agency, vaccinations will begin for 780,000 people, including patients, residents, and workers in nursing hospitals and nursing facilities from the first quarter.
However, in addition to the distrust factors such as the effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the elderly and the mutant virus, the situation is not easy, as the Corona 19 infection reproductive index is close to 1, and there are concerns about reproliferation.
Experts say that even if AstraZeneca is not as effective as other vaccines, it should be vaccinated first. Eun-mi Chun, professor of respiratory medicine at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, said, “As with other vaccines, the AstraZeneca vaccine will surely reduce at least severely ill patients and deaths.” You have to consider it.”