KDCA to Discuss 'AZ Vaccine Administration for Elderly' at Vaccination Expert Committee Meeting Today

4 PM Closed Meeting... Final Vaccination Plan to Be Established and Announced Next Week

A meeting of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's Vaccination Expert Committee to discuss the administration of AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine to the elderly will be held on the 11th. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's (KDCA) Vaccination Expert Committee will hold a meeting on the 11th to discuss whether to administer AstraZeneca (AZ)'s COVID-19 vaccine to the elderly.

The KDCA will hold a closed video meeting of the Vaccination Expert Committee around 4 p.m. that day after review by a panel of vaccine experts to finalize the vaccination plan, including the AstraZeneca vaccine administration schedule. The finalized vaccination plan is expected to be announced in a briefing early next week.

Earlier, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety held a final inspection committee meeting on the 10th and approved the AstraZeneca vaccine as the first vaccine to be used domestically, conditional on the submission of additional data such as the results of the U.S. Phase 3 clinical trials.

So far, there have been no reports of adverse events such as anaphylactic shock or worsening of COVID-19 symptoms following vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the elderly. The incidence rate of adverse events in the elderly was judged to be similar to or lower than that in the adult group, indicating good safety.

Meanwhile, following the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine the previous day, the KDCA announced plans to finalize the list of vaccination targets by the 19th, aiming to start vaccinations on the 26th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.