Pfizer vaccine stored in a cryogenic freezer▶ Click here to enlarge
Shinseonmi = On the 27th, the second day of the domestic new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccination, following AstraZeneca (AZ) product, Pfizer’s vaccine will also be put in full swing.
AstraZeneca vaccine was started on the previous day for residents and workers under the age of 65 in nursing hospitals and nursing facilities, and Pfizer vaccine will be administered to medical staff to treat COVID-19 patients from this day.
The first medical staff who received the Pfizer vaccine were about 55,000 people from 143 hospitals for treating COVID-19 patients, including hospitals dedicated to infectious diseases and hospitals for treating severely ill patients, and 35 living treatment centers. It means that vaccinations for medical staff who are at the forefront of responding to Corona 19 will be in full swing.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 300 medical staff will receive the Corona 19 vaccine at the Central Vaccination Center at the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. There are 199 workers at the National Medical Center, and 101 workers in the hospital for treating COVID-19 patients in the metropolitan area.
The vaccines they fit are part of the initial volume of 58,000 people (117,000 doses) introduced through the COVAX facility, an international vaccine supply organization.
The vaccine arrived at Incheon International Airport on a Korean Air A330-300 flight at 11:58 a.m. the previous day. The Pfizer vaccine delivered in temperature-controlled containers was subdivided into individual container units at the airport cargo terminal and then divided into five transport vehicles and delivered to five vaccination centers nationwide.
Arrival at Pfizer Vaccine Central Vaccination Center▶ Click here to enlarge
Pfizer’s vaccine is an mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccine, which must maintain a temperature of around -75 degrees below zero during distribution and storage, and requires pretreatment such as defrosting and dilution before use.
Therefore, vaccination begins first at the vaccination center that can systematically manage the entire process, and then expands to each medical institution.
Looking at specific vaccination locations and schedules, vaccinations are carried out from this day to the 12th of the following month at the Central Vaccination Center of the Central Medical Center. It is a three-day consecutive holiday from that day to March 1, but the vaccination is administered as normal, and the vaccination is not administered on the following weekends and holidays, March 6-7.
Inoculations are given from the 3rd to the 9th of the following month at three regional vaccination centers, including Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, Yangsan Busan National University Hospital, and Chosun University Hospital, and Keimyung University Daegu Dongsan Hospital, a regional vaccination center.
From the 8th of next month, the government plans to deliver Pfizer vaccines from the vaccination center to 82 medical institutions, so that they can receive their own vaccinations according to institutional plans.
The central center will deliver the vaccine to each medical institution on the 8th to the 16th of the following month and the regional center on the 10th to the 16th of the following month.
Medical institutions receiving the vaccine must complete the vaccination by the 20th of the following month. Among the medical staff at each medical institution, the list of people who will go to the vaccination center and receive the vaccination at the institution was confirmed the day before.
The government plans to finish the first vaccination for all 55,000 medical staff treating COVID-19 patients by the 20th of next month, and the second vaccination will start on March 20th, three weeks later, and finish on April 10th.
Meanwhile, national health centers and nursing hospitals continue to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine for the second day.
Among the targets of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 289,000 people agreed to the actual vaccination as of the 25th. The vaccination consent rate is high at 93.7%.
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