The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced its decision Sunday after discussing the matter with a panel of local experts.
“Vaccine administration will resume from Monday, April 12th. Shots will be given to instructors at special education schools, instructors for disabled children and those who work at facilities considered vulnerable. Vaccine rollout for those younger than 60 years old will resume as well.”
However, based on a probe by the European Medicines Agency that found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and post-inoculation blood clots, the KDCA decided not to recommend the shots for those under 30.
“For those under the age of 30, we have concluded that the benefit of receiving the vaccine does not outweigh the risk of getting very rare blood clots after the inoculation.”
The KDCA had announced last Wedensday that it would pause the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines for people younger than 60 after the country reported a third case of blood clots in an AstraZeneca vaccine recipient.
Meanwhile, the efficacy of the vaccines in Korea so far has turned out to be higher than 90 percent for both AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
The South Korean government analyzed the outcomes of 760-thousand people who’ve gotten their first dose and another 130-thousand who have not.
In the intial period post-inoculation, AstraZeneca had an efficacy of 85.9 percent and two weeks after the first dose of 92.2 percent.
The efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine after two weeks was 100 percent.
The KDCA said it will work with medical staff and experts to closely monitor and promptly treat any side effects and will disclose its findings transparently.
Eum Ji-young, Arirang News.
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