Vaccine Effectiveness 100% for AZ and Pfizer in Those Aged 75 and Over... AZ 90%, Pfizer 100% for All Recipients

Elderly people aged 75 and over are receiving COVID-19 vaccinations at the vaccination center set up at the Sports and Culture Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, which began on the 1st./Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The vaccine effectiveness for the elderly aged 75 and over, 14 days after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, has been confirmed to be 100%. The effectiveness of the vaccine did not differ by vaccine type, including Pfizer and AstraZeneca (AZ). Among all vaccinated individuals, the AZ vaccine showed 90% effectiveness, while the Pfizer vaccine showed 100% effectiveness.

Jung Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and Head of the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Task Force, stated at a regular briefing on the 19th, "Analysis of the effectiveness after vaccinating seniors aged 75 and over showed that there were no confirmed cases after 14 days or more following vaccination," and added, "The effectiveness of both the AZ and Pfizer vaccines was confirmed to be 100%."

The task force reported that this effectiveness was observed after investigating 3,889,732 individuals aged 75 and over among the 3,896,634 vaccination candidates, excluding 6,902 who were confirmed positive before vaccination. As of the 14th, 413,570 of these had completed their first dose, while 3,476,162 had not yet been vaccinated.

Since the start of COVID-19 vaccination until the 14th, there have been a total of 6 confirmed cases among vaccinated individuals aged 75 and over. The incidence rate was 1.5 cases per 100,000 vaccinated. By vaccine type, AZ vaccine had 1 case (0.6 per 100,000 vaccinated), and Pfizer vaccine had 5 cases (2.0 per 100,000 vaccinated). However, all these cases were confirmed within 14 days of the first dose, and there were no confirmed cases after 14 days for either vaccine.

In contrast, during the same period, among 3,476,162 unvaccinated individuals aged 75 and over, 550 were confirmed positive, resulting in an incidence rate of 15.8 per 100,000 unvaccinated.

Based on this analysis, the task force confirmed that vaccine effectiveness 14 days or more after a single dose was 100% for both AZ and Pfizer vaccines.

On the 23rd of last month, President Moon Jae-in received the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine at the Jongno-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding the overall effectiveness of vaccination beyond those aged 75 and over, the effectiveness after 14 days post-vaccination was 90.4% for the AZ vaccine and 100% for the Pfizer vaccine.

The survey was conducted on 868,505 individuals out of 871,283 COVID-19 vaccination candidates in the first quarter, excluding 2,778 who were confirmed positive before vaccination. Among them, 766,103 had completed their first dose by the 14th, and 102,402 were unvaccinated.

Since vaccinations began on February 26, there have been 105 confirmed cases among vaccinated individuals, corresponding to 13.7 cases per 100,000 vaccinated. By vaccine type, AZ vaccine had 101 cases (14.3 per 100,000), and Pfizer vaccine had 4 cases (6.6 per 100,000).

Among those who were confirmed positive 14 days or more after the first dose, there were 60 cases, sharply decreasing to 8.1 per 100,000. All of these were AZ vaccine recipients, resulting in an incidence rate of 8.9 per 100,000 for AZ vaccine. There were no confirmed cases after 14 days for the Pfizer vaccine.

In contrast, among 102,402 unvaccinated individuals during the same period, 93 were confirmed positive, resulting in an incidence rate of 90.8 per 100,000 unvaccinated.

Accordingly, the task force announced that after tracking first-quarter vaccination candidates for 7 weeks, vaccine effectiveness 14 days or more after a single dose was confirmed to be 90.4% for AZ vaccine and 100% for Pfizer vaccine.

However, Commissioner Jung added regarding this analysis, "Since the observation period is still very short, the effectiveness may change as the observation period is adjusted and extended," and said, "We will provide updates based on weekly analyses."

Jung Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (Head of the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team) [Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, the task force announced that 3.5 million doses (7 million shots) of the AZ vaccine will be introduced in May and June. These doses will be allocated to those aged 65 and over.

Commissioner Jung Eun-kyung said, "We are preparing to focus more intensively on vaccinating the elderly using the 7 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arriving in May and June," and added, "From around the end of May, we are preparing reservations, designated medical institutions, and vaccine supply management to start vaccinations for those aged 65 and over."

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