Infants under 4 to be vaccinated against Covid-19

A Covid-19 vaccine for infants aged from six months to four has landed in Korea for the first time. Korea's current Covid-19 vaccination program targets people aged 5 and older, but young infants will now be able to get a shot thanks to the newly entered vaccine.

The nation’s Covid-19 Vaccination Response Team announced on Thursday that 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine for infants were introduced in Korea. After the first injection of the vaccine, the second and third doses should be administered three and eight weeks apart from the previous one, respectively.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the domestic use of the Pfizer vaccine for infants and toddlers in November last year, saying, "The effectiveness and stability of the vaccine have been confirmed." The ministry announced that, as a result of clinical trials on 4,526 people aged between six months and four in the U.S., most adverse reactions after vaccination were mild.

The most frequent abnormal reactions in clinical trials were drowsiness, loss of appetite, and fever for infants aged six months to two, and fatigue, diarrhea, and fever for those aged two to four. There were no myocarditis, hypersensitivity reactions, or deaths. The vaccine has been approved for use in the U.S. and the European Union and is currently being used for vaccination.

However, whether to vaccinate infants and toddlers will be decided after the Specialized Committee for Vaccination's review. "We introduced a vaccine with the fact in mind that there are high-risk groups among infants, such as those with underlying diseases who are at higher risk of severe symptoms or death when infected with COVID-19," said an official from the disease control authorities. As most infants and toddlers have mild symptoms of COVID-19, only high-risk groups are likely to be subject to "vaccination recommendations."


ksy@donga.com