One more K syringe can be pulled out, but… The uncomfortable truth of the vaccine contract

With the start of vaccination for the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) in Korea, the number of vaccinations per vial (bottle) of the vaccine can be increased by 1 or 2 if skilled medical staff use a’low dead space (LDS) syringe’. There was a claim. At the site of Pfizer’s first vaccination on the morning of the 27th, President Chung Ki-hyun of the National Medical Center (NMC) said to Prime Minister Chung Sye-gyun, saying, “It seems like a big incident will break out. Pfizer says that one vial of vaccine can give 7 people a dose of 6 people, and AstraZeneca (AZ) can give 11-12 people a dose of 10 people. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) issued an official letter stating that if a whole batch remains after extracting the amount determined by the existing guidelines, it is acceptable to match it without discarding it. If so, can this increase in the number of vaccinations have the same effect as securing additional vaccines?

The Corona 19 vaccine produced by Pfizer has been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to inoculate 6 people per bottle. But when I started the vaccination, I was able to inject 7 people. As a result of the first vaccination of 300 Pfizer on the 27th, most of them were 7 people per bottle. “This is because the LDS syringe developed by a Korean company performed more than expected and the skills of the nurses at the vaccination center were so excellent,” explained an official from the Korean Disease Administration.

As these facts were reported, some ridiculed such as, “Isn’t it made by adding water to one more espresso shot,” “I made a water vaccine by adding more saline”. However, this seems to have resulted from a misunderstanding of the product characteristics of Pfizer’s vaccine, which was designed to be injected by diluting saline solution in the vaccine solution. If you mix a bottle of Pfizer vaccine with a quantitative saline solution for dilution, it becomes 2.25mL, but if you inoculate exactly 0.3mL per dose, 7 people can be beaten. AstraZeneca vaccine, which contains a little more than 5mL per person, is also inoculated with 0.5mL per person, and if extracted in this way, it can be used for 1-2 people. It is said that there is no problem with safety or effectiveness. However, for this to be possible, the medical staff must precisely extract it with a syringe. Jeong Kyung-sil, head of the vaccination management team of the Corona 19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, said, “It can be different depending on what a skilled nurse does in the field. Depending on the person, you can pick 7 times or only 5 times from one bottle.”

In the United States, where the Pfizer vaccination began in December last year, it has been reported that it can be extracted up to seven times. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on December 17, last year, “Considering the current public health crisis, the FDA can use all doses (6 to 7 doses) of a single vaccine bottle until the problem is resolved. I judged it.” There have been reports that it can be picked 6 to 7 times from medical staff at the vaccination site, and the FDA has verified this. However, he added, “Because there is no preservative, you should not collect several bottles and use them.” In Europe, such as Belgium, Finland, and Spain, reports that’bonus extraction’ is possible from January have been followed.

According to the guidelines revised by the US FDA on the 25th, Pfizer’s vaccine contains 6 doses per bottle when using an LDS syringe. Even though 7 episodes can be selected, the 6 episodes are specified because there is a possibility that the 7 episodes may not appear depending on the situation. The Brussels Times of Belgium said on the 15th of last month, “I extracted 7 doses per bottle of Pfizer vaccine and inoculated it to 5,000 people, but this kind of vaccination is no longer possible,” said the Brussels Times of Belgium. For that reason, he explained, “There is no guarantee that those who received the 7th extract will be able to take the second dose. It is unclear whether they will be able to extract an additional dose from 1 bottle again during the second dose.” About the possibility of changing the standard vaccination method to 7 times, he drew a line saying, “I can’t.” Jeong-ik Hong, head of the vaccination management team of the Corona 19 Vaccination Promotion Team, said, “Since there may or may not be 7 doses, the vaccine plan was extracted 7 times. I can’t make it assuming that I can’t squeeze it assuming, and there are so many variables. When I look at it, I squeezed it with a syringe because I wanted to have one dose of the vaccine. The internal medicine professor also mentioned this on Facebook on the 28th, saying, “You should not proceed with vaccination with the maximum number of vaccinations per vial fixed.” “You should also think about the stress of the personnel sharing the vaccine. The field is too tight. When you go back, errors will occur, and fatigue makes another accident.”

The quarantine authorities cannot help but laugh. Vaccine purchase contracts between the government and pharmaceutical companies were signed in doses (one dose) rather than vials (bottles). Formulating an additional extract may claim that the pharmaceutical company has provided additional quantities to the government. In fact, in December of last year, Pfizer announced that it would reduce the supply of vaccines by increasing the existing 5 doses per bottle to 6 doses to obtain approval. A high-ranking official of the Korean Disease Administration said, “We are currently negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to get the quantity forward. It is struggling because it is difficult to obtain a stable supply of vaccines due to a worldwide shortage. We can go in a direction that is not favorable to our country.” The disease administration drew a line saying, “It was not instructed to take out 7 episodes, but only informed that if there is enough remaining enough to use as one batch after taking 6 episodes, it is not necessary to discard it.” Ma Sang-hyuk, vice president of the Korean Vaccine Association, pointed out, “There is no reason to forcefully extract additional vaccinations as the government has announced that the vaccine has been sufficiently secured.”
Reporters Esther and Jeong Jin-ho [email protected]