The independent advisory board announced its review on efficacy and safety of the vaccines developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant and Oxford University, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The experts said the AstraZeneca vaccine's efficacy is similar among people aged between 18 and 64, and those aged 65 and older, citing no serious side effect was found in both groups.

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The panel advised the ministry to approve the two full-dose regimen on condition that AstraZeneca submit further data on clinical trials currently under way in the United States and final reports.

Controversies arose globally on the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 for the elders as there is not enough data to back its efficacy in older people. Last week, the European Medicines Agency's expert committee unanimously recommended the vaccine to be used in people 18 and over.

The panel's review also showed that AstraZeneca's vaccine efficacy rate came to 62 percent among all test subjects, higher than a 50 percent efficacy rate released by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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The experts detected two cases of severe abnormal response, but the number is within a permissible level, the ministry said. The experts, however, advised further monitoring of such cases following the approval.

The panel looked into a total of 23,745 people who have participated in four separate clinical trials, with 2,109 of them, or 8.9 percent, aged 65 and older, the agency said.

The panel's review is the first step of three separate independent evaluations before the ministry gives the final approval. The next evaluation result will be announced on Thursday.

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The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said it has not yet decided who will be administered with AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines.

KCDA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said the government is considering giving AstraZeneca vaccine shots to employees at nursing homes first once the vaccines start arriving later this month.

AstraZeneca vaccine doses for up to 2.2 million people are expected to be provided in the first half of this year under the WHO's global vaccine COVAX Facility project.

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Another batch of 10 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines is expected to arrive in the country later this month.

SK Bioscience Co., a vaccine unit of South Korea's SK Group, will manufacture AstraZeneca vaccines at a factory in the country.