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[이데일리 김보겸 기자] It was revealed that Japan requested a Korean company to purchase a special syringe for corona 19 vaccination. In Japan, vaccination has recently begun, but it is struggling because a special syringe is not available.
Kyodo News Agency reported on the 18th that President Moon Jae-in had visited Poonglim Pharmatech in South Korea and that Japan had requested to purchase about 80 million syringes. This is because Japan started vaccinating the coronavirus developed by Pfizer, an American pharmaceutical company, on the 17th, but failed to secure a special syringe.
A typical syringe can be inoculated 5 times with a single vaccine bottle, but 6 times with a special syringe. This is because the amount of vaccine remaining in the syringe after inoculation is only 30% of the existing product. Japan, which has a contract to supply vaccines for 72 million people (144 million doses) on a 6-dose basis, will discard up to 12 million people if it cannot secure a special syringe.
Japan plans to produce special syringes on its own, but the situation is difficult. Medical device manufacturer Nipro plans to multiply the production of special syringes from 500,000 per month at its plant in Thailand, but it is expected to supply the increase only by September, the news agency said.
Meanwhile, Poonglim Pharmatech is reported to have received requests to purchase more than 260 million syringes from 20 countries around the world. Poonglim Pharmatech plans to double its monthly production from 10 million units from the current month next month.