In the process of delivering the influenza (flu) vaccine,'Shinsung Pharmaceutical' was confirmed to have won a contract to procure influenza vaccine for the first time this year.



The company is said to have left the car door open or left the vaccine product on the board for a certain period of time while carrying out the distribution work of transferring vaccines from freezers to refrigerated cars outdoors.



The vaccine industry believes that this year's delay in procurement bids caused the company to sign a contract with insufficient preparation for refrigerated distribution (cold chain), and the problem of exposure to room temperature due to lack of experience in vaccine delivery.



According to health authorities and vaccine manufacturers on the 22nd, Shinsung Pharmaceutical was selected as the first national influenza vaccination vaccine supplier this year.



Companies that have procured vaccines have been investigated by the prosecution on suspicion of obstructing bidding, so there has been a situation in which they were not able to secure enough vaccine supply agreements from manufacturers, and Shinsung Pharm, which was confirmed by most manufacturers, won a contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention It.



Currently, the amount of problem caused by exposure to room temperature is a total of 12.59 million doses (one dose) procured by Shinsung Pharmaceutical.



Of these, 5 million doses have already been delivered to medical institutions.



The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has temporarily suspended the national vaccination business after receiving a report that the company has exposed some of the supplies to room temperature in the process of receiving the vaccine from the manufacturer and delivering it to public health centers and hospitals.




If the vaccine is not shipped or stored at a certain refrigeration temperature, quality may be impaired.



For this reason, distribution should be done in warehouses where temperature control is relatively easy.



However, it is said that some of the delivery drivers hired by this company gathered in the vacant lot and distributed vaccines, leaving the door of the refrigerator open for a long time, or stacking boxes on boards to check.



This fact was first known to the outside by intellectuals of several delivery technicians who had experience dealing with vaccines in the past, and the KCDC received a related report the afternoon of the previous day.



The industry believes that vaccines must be exposed to room temperature for a certain period of time during delivery.



Even in the delivery regulations, items are taken out of the refrigerator, checked the contents and quantity, and then put back into the refrigerator. This should be done quickly and should not be left unattended at room temperature for a long time.



In the industry, Shinsung Pharm's poor management of the product's refrigeration temperature was a big mistake, but it was analyzed that the business could not be prepared properly because the business was not proceeding quickly as procurement bids were overlooked several times this year.



The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is planning to collect vaccines supplied by Shinsung Pharm, check the safety and safety, and decide whether to permit use.



(Photo = Yonhap News)