Korea deploys its fifth vaccine, Novavax

Social Affairs

Published: 10 Feb. 2022, 18:50 Updated: 10 Feb. 2022, 18:56

Korea deploys its fifth vaccine, Novavax

Boxes of U.S.-based biotechnology company Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine are moved from an SK Bioscience plant in Andong, North Gyeongsang, on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the Food and Drug Safety Ministry allowed the domestic release of 840,000 doses of the vaccine. [NEWS1]

Korea will begin administering Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine next week to unvaccinated people over 18 and people at higher risk of severe illness and death.

The Covid-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team on Thursday announced the inoculation plan for Novavax shots, after the first batch was distributed the previous day.

Novavax became the fifth Covid-19 vaccine approved for use in Korea after AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Janssen and Moderna.

It is made with a more traditional method that has been used in vaccines against hepatitis B and influenza.

“It is meaningful in that the types of vaccines to choose from have been expanded,” said Lim Sook-young, director of the Infectious Disease Crisis Response Bureau at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, during a press briefing on Thursday. “If you have been reluctant to be inoculated due to possible side effects from new types of vaccines such as mRNA-based shots, we ask you to get vaccinated with the Novavax vaccine that uses familiar genetic recombination technology."

Under the plan, the vaccine will first be administered to people over 18 who have yet to be vaccinated and to high-risk groups, including hospitalized patients at higher risk of deteriorating into severe illness or dying, the elderly receiving home care and severely disabled people.

Inoculations will start Monday at hospitals and facilities for the high-risk groups. Other people interested in getting the shots can try for a so-called leftover vaccine, which can be found on Kakao or Naver, or by visiting medical facilities designated by local public health centers for vaccine administration and get the vaccine on the same day.

Reservations will be available starting Feb. 21 on the website (ncvr.kdca.go.kr), and appointment dates can be selected from March 7. Inoculation sites will then be expanded to all public health centers nationwide and to more designated medical facilities.

The vaccine will also be used for booster shots.

People can get Novavax for their booster if they completed their initial series of vaccination with AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna or Janssen, but could not get a booster with the listed vaccines for medical reasons.

Those who wish to get a Novavax booster shot need to get a doctor’s note approving it.

People whose initial inoculations are Novavax shots can get boosters with Novavax again or with the mRNA-based Pfizer or Moderna.

Phase 3 clinical trials conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom indicated two doses of Novavax showed 90 percent average efficacy against infection and 100 percent efficacy against hospitalization or death.

The vaccine also showed prevention effects against the Omicron variant, and antibody levels increased by 74 times 28 days after a booster inoculation with the Novavax vaccine, according to the promotion team.

Novavax is produced under a consignment agreement by Korean drugmaker SK Bioscience, and is the third to be manufactured or finished locally after AstraZeneca and Moderna.

The first batch of 292,000 shots of the vaccine was shipped out on Wednesday, and another batch of 551,000 was distributed on Thursday. Health authorities announced an additional 294,000 doses of the vaccine will be sent out on Friday.

Meanwhile, Korea’s daily new Covid-19 infections passed 50,000 for the first time on Thursday.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 54,122 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, up by 4,555 from the previous day and raising the total caseload to 1,185,361.

The number of Covid-19 patients under home treatment also jumped to 174,177 as of Wednesday midnight along with the surge in new infections.

With at-home care patients rising, the government adopted a new home treatment management system with asymptomatic or mild cases taking care of themselves, which went into effect Thursday.

Under the new system, patients will be divided into an “intensive management group” — which includes people aged 60 or older and people aged 50 or older who are immunocompromised or with underlying conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer — and all others.

The government will focus its monitoring on the first group, and provide regular health check-up calls and home treatment kits.

The second group can consult over the phone with local hospitals or medical clinics in case they feel ill, and get medicines prescribed. The list of participating local hospitals or clinics can be found on the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service website or on Naver.

All Covid-19 patients are subject to 7-day isolation at home.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]