Gov’t approves AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for elders

The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the vaccine for the COVID-19 virus by AstraZeneca for all adults aged over 18 on Wednesday. Those aged over 65 are also included but “cautious vaccination” is recommended for elders due to the lack of clinical cases against older patients even though the vaccine’s safety and efficacy have been confirmed for all age groups.

The South Korean government’s decision to import 20 million doses of U.S. company Novavax’s vaccine is expected to be confirmed after the Lunar New Year holidays. “The contractural procedure to import Novavax’s vaccine will be finalized on the following Monday,” said a government official. The vaccine will be manufactured by SK Bioscience via technology transfer and introduced to the country as early as May.


easy@donga.com · image@donga.com