Because of worries about uncommon and possibly catastrophic blood clots connected to the AstraZeneca vaccine, many nations, including Canada and Spain, have already allowed such dose-mixing.
Due to supply delays by global vaccine sharing system Covax, 760,000 South Koreans who received a first dose of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine will be offered Pfizer Inc’s vaccine as a second injection.
Because of worries about uncommon and possibly catastrophic blood clots connected to the AstraZeneca vaccine, many nations, including Canada and Spain, have already allowed such dose-mixing.
According to preliminary data from a Spanish research, administering a dose of the Pfizer vaccination to patients who have already received the AstraZeneca vaccine is extremely safe and effective.
By the end of June, 835,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covax vaccine were supposed to open, which South Korea intended to utilize mostly as a second dosage for the 760,000 health and frontline personnel who had got their first dose in April.
The supply has been postponed until July or later, since the government has depleted its AstraZeneca supplies in order to satisfy higher-than-expected immunization campaign participation, which enabled the country to fulfill its first-half inoculation objective earlier than scheduled.
As of Thursday, over 27% of the country’s 52 million people had received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, putting the country on track to attain a target of 70% by September and antibiotic resistance by November.
In the third quarter, the government expects to acquire 80 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 10 million doses arriving in July. AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna are among the companies involved.
Last month, South Korea said that it will perform a clinical trial combining AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 dosages with those from Pfizer and others.
According to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) head Jeong Eun-kyeong, the agency has conducted a study in 100 health professionals to evaluate antibody production and other immunological responses.
South Korea recorded 507 new infections by midnight Thursday, for a total of 150,238 cases and 1,996 deaths since the epidemic began, according to the KDCA.
