Elderly Aged 65 and Over in Long-Term Care Hospitals and Facilities to Be Vaccinated This Month... Airline Crew Also in Q2

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] Vaccinations for 376,000 inpatients and residents aged 65 and older, as well as workers at long-term care hospitals and facilities, will be carried out within this month.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team announced on the 11th that, following the review by the Vaccination Expert Committee the previous day, they plan to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to the age group of 65 and older.

The Vaccination Expert Committee explained that, after reviewing research results from the UK and Scotland, the AstraZeneca vaccine was proven effective in preventing hospitalization and severe cases in the elderly population, thus allowing vaccination for this age group.

The committee also changed the interval between the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the existing 8 weeks to 10 weeks.

This decision considered the current supply situation of the AstraZeneca vaccine and clinical trial results indicating that longer intervals increase effectiveness. Accordingly, the second dose reservation date will be changed from 8 weeks to 10 weeks.

Due to the nature of their work involving frequent overseas travel but being exempt from self-quarantine, airline crew members have been newly included in the second quarter vaccination target group to block the overseas inflow of variant viruses.

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