Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency yesterday allowed health workers to squeeze extra doses from vials of COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
The decision came after some health workers who were administering the AstraZeneca shots reported to authorities that they still saw additional doses left in the bottles that had each been used for 10 injections.
Agency official Jeong Gyeong-shil said that skilled workers might be able to squeeze one or two extra doses from each vial if they use low dead-volume syringes designed to reduce wasted medications and vaccines.
Photo: EPA-EFE
However, she said the agency is not allowing health workers to combine vaccines left in different bottles to create more doses.
The agency had previously authorized 10 injections for each AstraZeneca vial and six for each Pfizer vial.
South Korea, which launched its public vaccination campaign on Friday, is administering the AstraZeneca shots to residents and workers at long-term care facilities and the Pfizer ones to frontline medical workers.
South Korea yesterday reported another 405 coronavirus cases.
In other developments around the Asia-Pacific region, more than 500,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Hong Kong yesterday following a two-day delay due to export procedures, offering a second inoculation option for the territory.
The Pfizer-BioNTech jabs would be offered to about 2.4 million eligible residents from priority groups such as those aged 60 and older and healthcare workers.
About 70,000 residents who have registered for the vaccination program, which started on Friday, would receive shots developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac. The Sinovac vaccines were the first to arrive last week. Registration details for those wishing to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech shots have not yet been announced.
Hong Kong has struck deals for a total of 22.5 million doses, with 7.5 million each from Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Fosun Pharma, which is delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The government has so far approved the Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine has decided to vaccinate everyone aged 30 and older in the high-risk areas of the capital, Colombo, and suburbs where COVID-19 cases are rising.
There were 466 new cases reported in the past 24 hours.
Sri Lankan began its inoculation drive last month, starting with health workers. So far, more than 406,000 people have received their shots.
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