The government has secured an additional vaccine for the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) for 23 million people. However, it is not enough to solve the twisted’inoculation schedule’ when the AstraZeneca vaccine was decided to be vaccinated only under the age of 65. This is because additional vaccines are available only in April. It seems realistically difficult to pull the vaccination time for elderly people 65 years or older in nursing hospitals and nursing homes, which are vulnerable to infection and have a high fatality rate, to the end of this month as originally planned.
20 million Novabags at the factory in Andong
Pfizer vaccine supply contract for 3 million people
The elderly in nursing homes vulnerable to infection
Insufficiency of solving the twisted vaccination schedule
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on the 16th that it has signed a contract with SK Bioscience to supply NovaVax vaccine. The quantity is for 20 million people. SK Bioscience has secured a vaccine technology license for NovaVax. Since the factory in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do is conducting consignment production,’domestic production-domestic supply’ is possible. The Agency for Disease Control and Prevention said it has secured an additional 3 million Pfizer vaccines. For this, a supply contract was signed with Pfizer the previous day (15th). As a result, the number of Pfizer vaccines secured by the government increased to 13 million people. The total vaccine volume is for 79 million products from six pharmaceutical companies.
Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Commissioner Eun-kyung Chung said, “We will contribute to stable supply and demand through the early introduction of NovaVax and Pfizer vaccines that can be produced and supplied in Korea in a situation where there is a large uncertainty in the supply of vaccines worldwide.”
However, even with the government’s securing of additional vaccines, the timing of vaccination of the elderly (37,700 people) over 65 years of age in nursing hospitals and nursing homes, which was once delayed, cannot be extended as planned. Corona 19 fatality rate is directly proportional to age. Those in their 80s and above recorded 20.91%. It is more than 11 times the domestic average fatality rate (1.82%). Those in their 70s are 6.43% and those in their 60s are 1.33%.
However, as the judgment on the effectiveness of vaccination for the elderly was delayed, the vaccination plan was distorted. The elderly in nursing homes and nursing homes currently have to endure without vaccines until at least April. Compared to advanced countries abroad, the start of vaccination was much delayed, but the first vaccination target was also missed. The NovaVax vaccine, which was signed on that day, will be supplied sequentially in the second quarter and early April.
NovaVax (USA) vaccine. Graphic = Reporter Kim Young-ok [email protected]
In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, 500,000 people are expected to be delivered in the initial volume within March. This early supply volume is an individual contract volume. It is separate from the amount of Pfizer it has decided to receive from the multinational vaccine supplier’CoVax Facility’. It is not in the form of special import, but the (item) permission procedure must be followed. It takes about 40 days to go through eight procedures from reception to national shipment approval. Pfizer Korea applied for an item permission in advance on the 25th of last month. Even if shipment approval is granted before import, the vaccination is only in late March.
What is the domestic vaccination schedule for the ’56 million contract’?. Graphic = Reporter Cha Junhong [email protected]
Pfizer vaccine requires distribution and storage at a cryogenic temperature of -75 degrees Celsius, so it is inoculated at regional vaccination centers equipped with special freezers. It is not easy for bedridden patients in nursing hospitals to move to these vaccination centers and get the vaccine.
Ki-seok Jeong, a professor of respiratory medicine at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, who served as the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out that “the introduction of other vaccines such as NovaVax and Janssen should be taken as much as possible.”
Reporters Minwook Kim and Sooyeon Hwang [email protected]