Boosting Covid-19 Vaccination, South Korea Approves The Use Of Pfizer Vaccine

Vaksin PfizerBioNTech. (Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Secretary of Defense)

JAKARTA - The South Korean drug safety agency on Friday, February 5, approved the use of the COVID-19 vaccine alerted by Pfizer, to boost the vaccination program.

According to Koreatimes, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety permitted the use of two of Pfizer's full-dose regimens, after three separate independent evaluations of efficacy and safety.

The Ginseng Country Government has ordered Pfizer vaccines for 23 million people under direct contracts. The first batch of vaccine deliveries is expected to arrive later this month.

The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety revealed that the Pfizer vaccine is two two-dose shots, showing an efficacy rate of more than 95 percent, including for people aged 16-17 years and ages 65 years and over.

Despite the ministry's decision, it is not clear whether teenagers are eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine as local health authorities here exclude people under the age of 18.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) is expected to hold a meeting to decide whether to include teenagers to be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.

The approval is separate from Pfizer's vaccines for more than 56,000 medical workers, which were awarded previously as part of the World Health Organization's global COVAX Vaccine Facility project.

Doctors, nurses and other health professionals treating COVID-19 patients in the Seoul area began receiving the first injection of the Pfizer regimen at a government-run vaccination facility in central Seoul last week.

Pfizer products through COVAX previously received special import approval from the ministry.

The ministry also said it had not started reviewing whether to allow storage of the Pfizer vaccine at the higher temperature for two weeks, arguing that further data was needed for the review.

Earlier, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it would allow Pfizer vaccines to be transported and stored for up to two weeks at conventional freezer temperatures instead of freezing cold.

"A total of 225,853 people have been given their first injection or 0.43 percent of the country's 52 million population. Of the total, 221,944 health care workers and patients in health care facilities, have received the first injection of the two-dose vaccine regimen developed by AstraZeneca," KDCA said.

"59.4 percent of priority groups receiving vaccination for the AstraZeneca vaccine have been inoculated, which is much faster than the previously announced launch plan," added KDCA.

Meanwhile, of the 56,363 people scheduled to receive the Pfizer vaccine, 6.95 percent have been vaccinated. The group includes doctors, nurses and other health professionals who treat COVID-19 patients in the greater Seoul area.