Ahn Jae-yong, President of SK Bioscience, Receives Additional Vaccination with Skycovione Vaccine

SK Bioscience announced on the 31st that President Ahn Jae-yong and Global R&BD Head Kim Hoon conducted additional COVID-19 vaccinations using 'Skycovione' at Bundang Pediatric Clinic in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province.

President Ahn Jae-yong of SK Bioscience (left) and Kim Hoon, Global R&BD Director, are receiving an additional Skycovione vaccination.
[Photo by SK Bioscience]

Earlier this month, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced the COVID-19 vaccination plan for high-risk groups in the first half of this year, stating that vaccines using the recombinant antigen platform, such as Skycovione and Novavax's 'Nuvaxovid,' are also available for vaccination. This first-half vaccination for high-risk groups is being carried out targeting 390,000 immunocompromised individuals who previously received bivalent vaccines, considering their lower immune acquisition and shorter immune duration, ahead of the scheduled winter vaccination in the second half of this year. The basic vaccination is with messenger RNA (mRNA) bivalent vaccines, but for those contraindicated or delaying mRNA vaccine administration, or those who do not wish to receive mRNA vaccines, vaccination with recombinant antigen vaccines such as Skycovione is optionally available.

The recombinant antigen platform applied to Skycovione is a manufacturing method that has been used for a long time in existing vaccines such as influenza, hepatitis B, and cervical cancer vaccines, with proven safety and efficacy. Additionally, SK Bioscience confirmed neutralizing antibody immune responses against the Omicron variant (BA.1) through extended Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies of Skycovione, and recently has been conducting neutralizing antibody studies on the XBB subvariant and BN.1 variant, which are currently prevalent domestically and globally.

Ahn Jae-yong, President of SK Bioscience, said, “Although the global COVID-19 pandemic has been declared over, various variant viruses still threaten our daily lives, making vaccination more important than ever,” adding, “We will do our best in further clinical trials and product development so that Skycovione, with proven safety and efficacy, can protect humanity from viruses in the endemic situation.”