Officials are putting vaccine samples in the freezer at the Central Vaccination Center of the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 3rd, when a joint drill for the safe distribution of the Corona 19 vaccine was conducted. yunhap news
The Corona 19 vaccination has entered the countdown. In mid-February, of the 10 million vaccines that come through COVAX Facility (World Vaccine Joint Purchase Association), 58,500 Pfizer-made vaccines will be introduced to Korea. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety decided to approve this quantity within one day of applying for special import on the 3rd. By the end of February, 625,000 people out of the pre-purchased quantity from AstraZeneca will be supplied. The’Central Vaccination Center’, where the first vaccination will be made, has completed preparations. We looked at the characteristics and advantages and disadvantages of five domestic vaccines that have become more interested in vaccination.
① Prevention effect All five vaccines to be introduced met domestic and international standards (over 50%) related to the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Corona 19 vaccine, including the World Health Organization (WHO). The influenza vaccine’s preventive effect is about 40-60%, and experts say that it is a miracle that the highly developed COVID-19 vaccines showed high preventive effects in clinical trials. However, the preventive effect is slightly different depending on the type of vaccine. The vaccines AstraZeneca (62-70%) and Janssen (66% average) are lower than Pfizer (95%) or Modena (94.1%). NovaVax, which is being contracted by the government, recently showed 89.3% of the preventive effect in phase 3 clinical trials conducted in the UK. Therefore, vaccine experts explain that because the clinical trials of each vaccine are designed differently, the prevention effect should not be simply compared. Choi Won-seok, a professor at Korea University Ansan Hospital (infectious medicine department), explained, “The important thing is that all vaccines have exceeded the target standard.” In relation to AstraZeneca, controversy over the effects of the elderly also arose. Those who insist on the restriction of vaccination for the elderly point out that among the participants in the clinical trial conducted by AstraZeneca, 7.4% (660 people) of the elderly aged 65 or older is a small percentage of the clinical trials, so the effectiveness cannot be clearly assessed. However, many experts in the verification advisory group of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety decided that vaccination for the elderly was possible considering the fact that the prevention effect was confirmed in all the test subjects, and the immune response of the elderly after the vaccine administration was similar to those of 18 to 64 years old. Jeong Jae-hoon, a professor at Gachon University’s medical school (preventative medicine), said, “All vaccines introduced show an effect of preventing nearly 100% from developing severely.”
② Safety Experts also explain that the short-term safety of all five vaccines has been confirmed to the extent necessary for vaccination. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded that there was no connection between vaccination and death, as a result of an analysis by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) of 30 consecutive deaths after receiving the Pfizer vaccine in Norway last month. Israel, which has a fast vaccination rate, also aggregated and introduced the side effects reported after the Pfizer vaccination on the 2nd (local time) and said, “The frequency and nature of side effects caused by the Corona 19 vaccine are similar to those of other vaccines.” According to the announcement on the Israeli side, the rate of side effects among the first inoculation (2.276 million people) was 0.24%, and of the second inoculation (about 1.37 million people), only 0.26% complained of side effects.
③ Ease of storage, distribution, and vaccination The storage, distribution, and vaccination requirements for the COVID-19 vaccine are also very important. This is because the biggest goal is to create collective immunity by inoculating many people in a short time. In the short term, mortality should be reduced by promptly vaccinating high-risk groups with high mortality rates. Unfortunately, among the five vaccines, Pfizer, Moder, or vaccines, which have high preventive effects, can be vaccinated only at 250 vaccination centers that will be installed nationwide due to difficult distribution and storage conditions. “The Pfizer vaccine has the advantage of high preventive effect, but the drug itself is very unstable, so there is a limitation in that it must be distributed at cryogenic temperatures, and it was suggested that it should not be shaken or subjected to excessive shock even when handling it.” said. On the other hand, AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines are cold-stored and distributed vaccines, so they are good for use in “visiting vaccinations,” and can be vaccinated at 10,000 medical institutions nationwide. NovaVax, which is being introduced by the government, can be stored and distributed under conditions of 2 to 8 degrees of video, and it is expected to be useful when the period of vaccination inevitably increases due to a long shelf life of 1 to 3 years. Na Seong-woong, vice-director of the Corona 19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, said, “It is not what kind of vaccine an individual gets, but how many effective vaccines in the whole society are more important in the formation of group immunity.” Choi Won-seok, a professor at Korea University’s Ansan Hospital (Infectious Internal Medicine), also said, “It is a situation where it is beneficial to the society as a whole to get immunity faster by inoculating a vaccine that is introduced first to the elderly who are affected by Corona 19.” By Choi Ha-yan and Kim Ji-hoon, staff reporter [email protected]