Regarding the vaccination of the new corona virus, the hospital in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, said that if you use a syringe for insulin, you can inoculate 7 times more than expected from one container, and inoculate medical staff using this syringe. Is starting.
Uji Tokushukai Hospital in Uji City is using a syringe that administers insulin, which is used in the treatment of diabetes, to give priority to vaccinations for medical professionals, which has begun in earnest. We are inoculating.
Pfizer's vaccine is to add physiological saline to one container, dilute it to 2.25 ml, and then suck out a single dose with a syringe for intramuscular injection.
The amount required for one inoculation is 0.3 ml, which is calculated to be 7 times in one container, but since the liquid remains at the tip with a normal syringe, only 5 times can be taken, and even with a special syringe, only 6 times can be taken.
On the other hand, insulin syringes have a structure that leaves almost no liquid inside, so you can take 7 doses.
Insulin syringe The conditions for use are
Vaccination with the new corona virus is done by "intramuscular injection" that hits the muscle deeper in the subcutaneous fat, but the syringe for insulin used by Uji Tokushukai Hospital in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture is the length of the needle. It's about 13 mm tall, about half the size of a regular syringe.
For this reason, in hospitals, doctors and nurses must perform echography for about 30 seconds before receiving vaccination to measure the thickness of subcutaneous fat in the arm, and use it only for those who can confirm that it is less than 10 mm. Is provided.
At this hospital, 1257 people wanted to be vaccinated, and the amount of vaccine received was 975 times when converted to 5 times per container, but when converted to 7 times, it is 1365 times.
According to the hospital, about 85% of those who received the vaccine by the 8th were able to meet the conditions and use a syringe for insulin, so if the proportion is the same, all applicants before the next vaccine arrives. Can be inoculated.
In addition, it is not necessary to use a syringe for insulin to take 7 doses from one container of vaccine, and up to 2 doses can be taken with a normal syringe, so the condition is satisfied as a result of echo examination. Inoculation to those who did not have it can be done in parallel.
Inoculated health care workers "Does it contribute to vaccine shortage?"
On the 8th, 222 out of 259 people who received the vaccine used this syringe, so the hospital said, "While the amount of vaccine is limited, we would like to find a way to inoculate as much as possible. ".
A female nurse in her twenties who was vaccinated with an insulin syringe said, "I honestly think that the needles are so thin and small that they didn't hurt as much as I expected. If it's not a dangerous method, I think it's good because it can contribute to the lack of vaccines. "
A male doctor in his 60s said, "I think most people are eligible to use this syringe. I think the vaccine should be used as effectively as possible, so I think it makes sense." Was there.
Director Sueyoshi of Uji Tokushukai Hospital "If the vaccine reaches many people"
Atsushi Sueyoshi, director of Uji Tokushukai Hospital, said, "There are many facilities that are waiting for the arrival of the vaccine, so I hope that this method will be widely known and that the vaccine will reach a large number of people. It would be great if we could create a form that would allow the vaccine to be passed on to other applicants throughout Japan. "
Kyoto Prefecture "As an administration, we do not limit our response"
According to Kyoto Prefecture, needles and syringes have been supplied from the national government to 12 medical institutions in the prefecture along with vaccines by last week for priority vaccinations for medical professionals.
The supplied needles and syringes can be inoculated five times from one vaccine container, and this time, about 10,000 people were supplied.
So far, the total number of people in the prefecture is about 98,000, including doctors, nurses, and emergency personnel, and many medical institutions are waiting for the distribution of vaccines from the national government.
Regarding the method of inoculating 7 times from one container announced by Uji Tokushukai Hospital, Kyoto Prefecture said, "It is an act performed by a doctor after judging the necessity and effectiveness, and the government does not limit the response. On the other hand, there are restrictions such as that only people who can reach the muscles can handle it, so at the moment it is not possible to judge whether it is recommended by other medical institutions. "
Expert "It is not realistic to proceed with inoculation in large numbers"
Regarding collecting 7 doses from one container using an insulin syringe for Pfizer vaccine, Tetsuo Nakayama, a specially appointed professor at Kitasato University who is familiar with vaccines, said, "The insulin syringe has a short needle, and while checking with an echo. I think that it can be injected correctly if there is, but it is not realistic because it is necessary to proceed with inoculation to a large number of people. It is not that everyone nationwide will adopt this method. What is important to the last It's not about hitting it once, it's about getting the correct intramuscular injection. "
To produce syringes capable of inoculating Terumo 7 times
Regarding the vaccine for the new coronavirus developed by American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and others, medical device maker Terumo has decided to start producing a new syringe that can be inoculated seven times from one container.
Regarding the vaccine developed by Pfizer and the German company Biontech, in order to increase the number of inoculations, it is an issue to secure a special syringe that can inoculate 6 times from one container.
Under these circumstances, medical device maker Terumo announced that it will start production of a new syringe that can inoculate seven times from one container in late March.
The new syringe is an improvement on the syringe made for the new type of influenza that spread in 2009. ▼ The needle has been lengthened to 16 mm, which is suitable for "intramuscular injection", and ▼ Needle and drug solution It is a structure that the main body part to put in is integrated from the beginning.
The company says that it is difficult for the drug solution to remain in the syringe and that it can be inoculated without waste, and on March 5, it was approved for manufacture and sale by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The factory in Yamanashi Prefecture is already preparing for mass production, and plans to produce 20 million bottles from late March to March next year.
Terumo's senior executive officer, Takeshi Tomita, said, "Since a lot of demand is expected, we would like to promptly upgrade the equipment after the start of production."