A panel of South Korean advisors has cited a lack of data to call for caution over the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 65 and above, the country’s food and drug safety ministry said on Friday. 

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The panel has cleared the vaccine for inoculation of people above the age of 18, but urged caution for its use on those above 65, news agency Reuters quoted the director general of a national safety evaluation body as saying. 

“The panel advised to offer the drug to people over 18, as Europe had recommended, but advised caution over the decision to inoculate those over 65, since no sufficient data has yet been collected,” Lee Dong-hee, the director general of the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation, said. 

The AstraZeneca vaccine is on course to becoming the first to be approved by South Korea, but a decision to limit its use may affect the mass inoculation campaign that prioritises health workers and the elderly.

The advice comes as a number of European nations plan to restrict the use of the vaccine to younger people due to a lack of data on its efficacy on older people. 

South Korea is slated to receive the first shipment of the vaccine this month as part of a two-way purchase deal for 20 million doses. 

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and the chief of clinical trials for the vaccine have said it triggers a good immune response in older people. 

The British-Swedish pharmaceutical giants sought emergency approval for its vaccine on January 4, which South Korea aims to grant within 40 days. 

The final review panel for the vaccine will also take into account overseas regulatory decisions, Lee said. 

The South Korean government has said it aims to inoculate 10 million high-risk people by July and achieve herd immunity by November. 

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It also expects delivery of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from the global vaccine sharing scheme COVAX, along with almost 2.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca shots in the first half of 2021.