AZ vaccination recommended for age 65 or older

The KCDA will be implemented this month for residents and workers in nursing hospitals and facilities

The Vaccination Specialist Committee recommended AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination for people 65 years of age or older.

 

Accordingly, the quarantine authorities decided not only to immunize them, but also to immunize patients and workers in nursing hospitals and facilities during this month.

 

The COVID-19 Vaccination Promotion Team (Director Eun-kyung Jung) announced on the 11th that it has decided in this way following the deliberation of the '6th Vaccination Specialized Committee in 2021' on the 10th.

 

The committee reviewed the results of studies in the UK and Scotland and recommended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in hospitalization and severe prevention in the evaluation of the elderly.

 

Previously, the UK said that Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines prevented similar levels of disease (about 70%) and confirmed the effect of preventing hospitalization among the elderly in their 70s or older.

 

In Scotland, Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines showed up to 85% and 94% of hospitalization prevention effects, respectively.

 

The COVID-19 Vaccination Promotion Team plans to immunize approximately 376,000 people aged 65 or older and workers in nursing hospitals and nursing facilities in accordance with the deliberation result of the Vaccination Committee.

 

In addition, the Vaccination Committee deliberated on detailed implementation standards for the second vaccination for those who were confirmed as COVID-19 after the first vaccination and those who responded to anaphylaxis.

 

As a result, the committee decided that if COVID-19 was confirmed among the first inoculations, the second inoculation should be performed, and that it is possible after the quarantine is lifted.

 

For the timing of vaccination, if the confirmed person received passive antibody treatment, vaccination should be performed after at least 90 days, and otherwise, it was recommended to complete the vaccination according to the recommended vaccination interval for each vaccine.

 

The recommended vaccination interval is 21 days for Pfizer vaccine and 8 to 12 weeks for AstraZeneca vaccine.

 

Among the primary inoculations, the vaccination subjects with anaphylaxis reactions were decided not to perform the second vaccination because there is insufficient evidence for cross vaccination with another platform, Pfizer's mRNA platform, and AstraZeneca vaccine's viral vector platform vaccine.

 

In addition, considering the current supply status of AstraZeneca vaccine and clinical trial results that the longer the vaccination interval, the longer the vaccination interval was applied, the 2nd vaccination schedule was decided to change to 10 weeks when the vaccination interval was applied.

 

In fact, on the 10th of last month, WHO SAGE recommended that the vaccination interval of AstraZeneca vaccine is 8-12 weeks, considering that the longer the vaccination interval between the 1st and the 2nd vaccination increases, the more effective it is.

 

The Vaccination Specialist Committee included in the 2nd quarter vaccination target group to block the outflow of mutant viruses for flight attendants who are subject to the exception of self-isolation, although they often come and go abroad due to their occupational characteristics.

 

About 20,000 people, including crew members of international airliners belonging to Korean airlines, are covered.

 

The COVID-19 Vaccination Promotion Team plans to establish a second quarter vaccination plan according to the deliberation result of the Vaccination Expert Committee and announce it next week.