Administration of Evusheld begins to prevent COVID-19

in the event of a severe decrease in immunity

Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from today (8th)

From today (8th), the quarantine authorities will administer Evusheld, an antibody injection for prevention, for severely immunocompromised patients.

 

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team (Director Baek Kyung-ran) announced today (the 8th) that it will start taking Evuseld to prevent COVID-19 among immunocompromised people.

 

Evuseld is a preventive antibody injection that directly injects antibodies into the body to cause preventive effects to those who are unable to form immunity due to immunosuppressive treatment and severe immunodeficiency symptoms.

 

Evuseld was introduced in Korea under the approval of the MFDS.

 

As a result of clinical trials, preventive effects were confirmed, such as 93% reduction in infection and 50% reduction in severe and death.

 

Recently, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained that the effectiveness of BA.4 and BA.5, which are subvariables of omicron, has also been confirmed to be maintained.

 

The most common adverse event among reported adverse reactions in safety was injection site response (2%), mostly mild (73%) or severe (24%), and no particular safety problem was identified.

 

The subjects of the medication are blood cancer patients receiving immunosuppressive treatment, organ transplant patients, and congenital (primary) immunodeficiency patients.

 

This standard was prepared through consultation with related professional societies and experts such as the KSID, The Korean Society of Hematology, The Kosaids, and Korean College of Rheumatology.

 

Currently, there are 35 high-level general hospitals, 99 general hospitals, and 76 hospitals, with 210 designated nationwide, and medical staff must receive medication training such as drug characteristics, medication targets, injection methods, and contraindications.

 

If there is a patient who believes that medication is necessary according to the medication guidelines, reservations and applications can be made through the COVID-19 vaccination management system.

 

When an application from a medical institution is received, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will check with the local health center and apply for the allocation of drugs to the relevant medical institution before the scheduled date.

 

The promotion team said, "In order to prevent COVID-19, vaccination is recommended first, but if it is difficult to expect antibody formation even after vaccination, additional protective effects can be expected through Evusheld, a preventive antibody injection."