▲ Medical staff dispensing Pfizer vaccine into syringes
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has allowed the number of people to be vaccinated per vial (bottle) of the Corona 19 vaccine used in Korea to be increased by 1-2 at the site.
When using a special'Low Dead Space LDS' developed by domestic companies, the number of people vaccinated per bottle of Pfizer vaccine is 6 to 7 people, and the number of people vaccinated for AstraZeneca (AZ) is 10 people. It is an announcement that it is safe to increase the number to 11-12 people.
This is the first time in the world to increase the number of people vaccinated per bottle of vaccine like this.
This is to reduce the amount of discarded vaccine as much as possible, and depending on the skill level of the nurse in charge of the vaccination, the number of vaccinations may increase significantly with the limited vaccine.
The Corona 19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team announced today (27th) that it has distributed these'how to conduct vaccinations' to vaccination sites nationwide.
The promotion team explained in the official letter, "When using the minimum residual sterilized syringe, if the remaining amount remains after the inoculation for the recommended number of inoculations per vial, additional inoculations can be made in order to reduce the waste amount."
The minimal residual syringe is a special syringe designed with little space between the piston and needle to minimize discarded vaccine.
A government official said, "If you use a special syringe, you can use the remaining amount additionally," he said. "AstraZeneca can fit 10 people per bottle. Depending on the remaining amount, up to 11 to 12 people can be inoculated."
"Depending on the skill level of the vaccination personnel, 6 people may not come out of one bottle of Pfizer vaccine, or more than 6 people may come out," said Kyung-sil Chung, head of the vaccination management team of the promotion group. "In order to offset and reduce the amount of waste "You want to use the remaining amount."
He emphasized, "However, the prescribed dose must be observed, and it is absolutely forbidden to collect and use the remaining amount from each bottle." He emphasized, "The remaining amount of inoculation should be judged according to the site situation, and the remaining amount of inoculation itself is not mandatory." I did.
The National Medical Center said it would verify the possibility of expanding the number of vaccinations today, the first day of the Pfizer vaccination.
Ki-Hyun Jung, head of the National Medical Center, also visited the vaccination and said, "When the frozen Pfizer vaccine is defrosted, there is about 0.45 ml, and when 1.8 ml of physiological saline is mixed, the total amount becomes 2.2 ml. "This is coming out," he said, saying that he will verify the method of expanding the number of vaccinations today.
According to the standard vaccination method suggested by the authorities, Pfizer vaccine is made by mixing 1.8 ml of saline solution in 0.45 ml of undiluted solution, and 0.3 ml of each person is inoculated.
AstraZeneca vaccine contains more than 5 ml of medicine per bottle, and 0.5 ml per person is given.
The standard number of vaccinations per bottle is 6 Pfizer and 10 AstraZeneca.
However, LDS syringes are used for both vaccines' initial dose inoculation.
Even if you keep all the prescribed doses, there is room for a residual amount to remain.
It is possible to receive additional vaccinations with the vaccine determined according to the skill level of the on-site nurse.
The authorities have distributed 670,000 LDS syringes to inoculation centers so far.
Domestic manufacturers Doowon Meditech and Shin-A Yanghaeng supplied them, and Poonglim Pharmatech donated 127,000 to the government ahead of export to the US.
Assuming that the number of vaccinations per bottle of Pfizer increases from 6 to 7, the number of vaccinations can be increased by 16.7% arithmetically.
If the number of AstraZeneca vaccinations increases from 10 to 11-12, the number of vaccinations increases by 10-20%.