"I will make it possible to complete the Korean military inoculation"... Janssen vaccine came twice as long as promised
At a press conference at the US-ROK summit last month, President Biden said, "We'll provide full vaccinations for all 550,000 of South Korea's military personnel normally associated with the US military to complete their vaccinations." those Korean forces engaging with American forces).
It wasn't clear what this vaccine was talking about, but it was clear that the message was a dose enough to complete the dose for 550,000 people.
(For Pfizer, Moderna, and AZ vaccines that require two doses, it is 1.1 million doses. One dose of Janssen can be said to be 550,000 doses.)
However, when I looked at the amount of vaccine sent by the US, it was decided that the quantity of Janssen vaccine was 1.10 million doses.
White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Giants, who appeared at the coronavirus briefing, formalized the shipment by announcing that he would provide "one million doses of the vaccine, as President Biden promised."
From our point of view, it was a welcome thing to say, as the vaccines supported have almost doubled, but 'Biden didn't say that...
' I thought.
I also wondered why it suddenly increased so much.
"Millions of Janssen Vaccines End-of-Life Crisis"... What is the expiration date of the vaccine from Korea?
The Wall Street Journal reported in June that millions of doses of Janssen's vaccine were end-of-life.
After the decision was made to suspend vaccination due to concerns about blood clots, the consumption of Janssen vaccines did not increase, resulting in a large inventory.
We were curious about the Janssen vaccine we received, so we asked around, and out of the 110,000 vaccines, we can confirm that half of the vaccines expire on June 23rd and half end on the 2nd and 3rd of July. There was.
It is said that it is a vaccine with less than a month left before the expiration date, but when I heard the circumstances, the question was solved why I received twice the original announcement.
While negotiating the vaccine acquisition, the United States said to Korea in advance, "If you send a vaccine that expires at the end of June, is it possible to inoculate it within the deadline?" I did.
In fact, South Korea announced that it would end the Janssen vaccination by the 20th.
It can be used up within the expiry date.
The enthusiasm for the Janssen vaccine was confirmed to the extent that the vaccination application was also completed in 18 hours.
It is not an exaggeration to say that there is little chance that a vaccine will be discarded after its expiration date.
"Considering Korea's inoculation infrastructure and preparations, the vaccine was doubled."
A Washington diplomatic source explained, "The US provided double the amount announced in consideration of South Korea's inoculation infrastructure and preparations."
The US government can avoid being accused of having passed the expiration date by holding on to a vaccine that cannot be used, and the Korean government can bring in an urgent vaccine and vaccinate it to the people who want it, so it is a win-win structure for both sides.
Vaccines that have an expiration date will have no problems getting vaccinated.
I could see some reactions that denigrated it to the extent of dropping the US vaccine stock, but in fact, this kind of criticism does not help in overcoming the corona virus.
There are not many countries that can bring such a quantity and inoculate their own citizens in an instant. (Some countries will have to throw it away, but the situation is different.) It's hard to criticize.
Anyway, after a few months, the vaccines ordered will arrive in Korea one after another, and it is almost certain that there will be a surplus of vaccines like the United States.
Bringing in even a little more vaccine at an urgent time means that it can save lives.
Personally, while I was getting the corona vaccine at the US pharmacy, I got a phone call asking if I could not get it because it came only 3 hours early.
If I run out of time, I have to throw it away, but when I asked if I couldn't come and get it, I said that I would go right away, so I gave it a shot.
A vaccine with a shelf life of several hours has no difference in efficacy.
America without vaccines... Vaccines piling up in inventory near expiry
Vaccination in the United States can be explained as a situation where everyone who gets the vaccine has already gotten it, and those who don't get it.
There are various incentives to convince people to hold on.
Some even give away prizes like lottery to vaccinated people, as well as alcohol, guns and marijuana.
In our country, we have put forward something that is difficult to imagine, but I can feel the desperation of the US government to get more vaccines at any cost within the legal framework.
We provide the convenience of taking free rides to Uber and Lyft to the inoculation station.
Still, there were days when the number of inoculation exceeded 3 million a day, but now it is difficult to exceed 1 million.
In particular, the southern region is in such a serious situation that there are many places where the vaccination rate stays in the 30% range.
Yesterday, when I went to the county-run vaccination center for the second vaccination of the eldest child in middle school, there were hardly any adults, and most of the students came and received the vaccine.
I stopped by a pharmacy near my Washington DC office today and couldn't find anyone getting vaccinated.
When I asked the pharmacy staff, they were told that only teenagers were vaccinated, so only Pfizer had stock in stock. (Only Pfizer approved for emergency use for youth vaccination.) Moderna is expected to get approval for youth vaccination soon. The Janssen vaccine, which can only be vaccinated to those over the age of 18, is inevitably piling up in stock.
It is a pity that Janssen vaccines do not reach the countries they desperately want and are piled up in stock with an imminent expiration date, given that it has been proven to have excellent efficacy and knows how to deal with the extremely rare side effects of blood clots.