AstraZeneca, Pfizer vaccines 84 pct effective in senior citizens after one shot: KDCA

SEOUL, June 17 (Yonhap) -- AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines were 84 percent effective against the novel coronavirus in seniors aged 60 or older even after one shot, South Korea's health authorities said Thursday.

The data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) analyzed more than 9.58 million people aged 60 or older, including 5.53 million who received the first dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

While unvaccinated people reported 4,892 COVID-19 cases, the vaccine group only had 282 cases, the KDCA data showed.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was 78.9 percent effective against COVID-19 at least two weeks after the first shot was given, while the efficacy rate of the Pfizer vaccine was 86.6 percent in people aged 60 or older here.

By age group, those in their 70s had the highest vaccine efficacy with 86.7 percent, followed by seniors aged 80 or older with 84.9 percent and people in their 60s with 73.9 percent.

Both AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines were 100 percent effective in preventing deaths from the novel coronavirus in people aged 60 or older.

The data showed 109 deaths were reported from 4,892 COVID-19 cases from the unvaccinated group, but no fatalities were reported from the vaccinated people.

Both AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines require two jabs to be fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the KDCA said 76.4 percent of people in their 60s have been administered with their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines.

As of 12 p.m. Thursday, more than 14 million people received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines, accounting for over 27 percent of the country's 51.3 million population.

kdon@yna.co.kr
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