Pfizer vaccine gets initial nod in South Korea

– The first of three expert panels in South Korea reviewing a COVID vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech gave its recommendation yesterday for the government to approve the jab.

The national pharmaceutical panel was planning to make its recommendation yesterday, the same day that South Korea would begin its immunization drive. But the government will wait for a third panel, which has not said when it will reach its conclusion, before deciding whether to grant approval.

High-risk individuals, prioritized at the start of the vaccination campaign, will be inoculated with a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

A day later, however, South Korea will make use of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that have been supplied through COVAX, an international coronavirus vaccine sharing program, bypassing the need for the government’s final approval.

Around 55,000 healthcare workers in COVID-19 treatment facilities will receive the first doses of the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine on Saturday.

The first panel to report on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine advised that it should be administered to people aged 16 and over, taking into account its global trial results and approval in several other countries.

South Korea reported 357 new coronavirus cases on Monday. The total number of infections now stands at 87,681, with death toll of 1,573.

Meanwhile, Pfizer Inc. expects to deliver more than 13 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine per week to the United States by the middle of March, more than doubling its shipments from early February, a top Pfizer executive said in prepared testimony ahead of a congressional hearing.

Pfizer is on track to deliver 120 million doses of its twodose regimen by the end of March, said John Young, Pfizer’s chief business officer.

Pfizer is also prepared to provide a total of 300 million shots to the United States by the end of July and has raised global production expectations for 2021 to at least two billion doses, he said.

In his own prepared remarks, Moderna Inc. President Stephen Hoge said the drugmaker plans to deliver 100 million doses of its two-dose shot by the end of March, and 300 million by the end of July.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson believes it will be able to ship at least 20 million doses of its single-dose shot to the US by the end of March after receiving US regulatory authorization and 100 million doses by midyear 2021, said Vice President of Medical Affairs Richard Nettles.

The comments were prepared ahead of a US congressional hearing on vaccine availability to be held by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce this week as the US crossed the staggering milestone of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths.