Vaccination for the elderly and youth… AZ over 65, Pfizer potential between 16 and 17 years old

In the 10th day, 7 days after vaccination for a new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) in Korea began, attention is also being paid to whether the vaccination of the elderly and adolescents over 65 years old.

Previously, the government temporarily withheld vaccinations to nursing hospitals, nursing facility admissions, residents and workers over 65 years old, who were the first targets of vaccination, because the vaccination effect of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine was not sufficiently proven.

In addition, children and adolescents under the age of 18 and pregnant women are excluded from the vaccination due to lack of clinical results.

However, with the recent approval of AstraZeneca vaccination for the elderly over the age of 65 and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has decided to approve Pfizer vaccination for adolescents and adults over 16 years of age, some changes in future vaccination targets and schedules have occurred. There seems to be.

According to the Central Defense Response Headquarters, the cumulative number of inoculations for 8 days from the 26th of last month to 0:00 on the 5th of this month was 296,000, reaching 300,000.

This is 38.9% of a total of 762,93 people who are hospitalized, admitted, and workers under 65 years of age, such as nursing hospitals and nursing facilities, who are eligible for priority vaccination, first responders, medical staff at hospital-level medical institutions or higher, and workers in corona 19 patients treatment hospitals.

In the case of nursing hospitals, 81% of the subjects completed the first vaccination, and 49.2% of nursing facilities also completed the vaccination.

Among these, vaccinations for hospitalized patients over 65 years of age and residents of nursing hospitals and nursing facilities, which were the top targets for vaccination, are also gradually becoming visible.

This is because the UK and France, which had withheld vaccinations for those over 65 years old, reversed their stance while the UK released a study proving the effectiveness of AstraZeneca vaccine vaccination, and the Korean government also started affirmative review.

According to the UK’s England Public Health Agency (PHE), a survey of elderly people aged 80 or older who received a single dose of AstraZeneca vaccine showed that hospitalization cases decreased by 80% after 3-4 weeks of vaccination, and infection prevention effect after 4 weeks of vaccination in 70 years of age or older. Were counted as 60-73%.

In response, Germany decided to change its existing policy to approve AstraZeneca vaccinations for people aged 65 and over, and France expanded the targets to 74.

Belgium and Sweden also turned to permit vaccinations for older people.

The government also entered into a related review.

Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun said at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on the 3rd, “New research results that the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective for the elderly have been disclosed.” As there is a change in policy, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asks for the opinions of experts to be gathered once again.”

Health authorities plan to determine whether or not to expand the scope of vaccination by evaluating the data of AstraZeneca vaccination from each country.

Accordingly, there is a possibility that elderly people, such as nursing hospitals, will also receive vaccinations with general elderly people 65 years of age or older who are eligible for priority vaccination in the second quarter.

In a briefing the previous day, Kyung-sil Chung, head of the vaccination management team of the Corona 19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, said, “The type of vaccine for (general) elderly people 65 years or older has not been determined, but I think vaccination will be done in the second quarter.” There may also be a plan for vaccination, and this will also be announced through the announcement of the implementation plan for the second quarter.”

The possibility of vaccination for adolescents aged 16-17 years old, who had been excluded from the vaccination target so far, has also increased.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety decided to allow Pfizer vaccination on the condition of submitting a final report on clinical trial results for those aged 16 or older by holding a final inspection committee on the 5th.

The final review committee decided that the Pfizer vaccine had a sufficient preventive effect of 95%, and the clinical trial of the vaccine was designed for those aged 16 or older, and that the immune response of adolescents would not be different from that of adults.

Pfizer vaccinations have been approved for those over the age of 16 in a number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.

The final vaccination target is decided by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vaccination Specialist Committee based on the approval result of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

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