Distribution process is divided into’direct delivery’ and’logistics center → vaccination center’
Inoculation center for mRNA vaccines, and other vaccines at local hospitals
As the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccination begins in Korea this month, attention is also drawn to where to receive the vaccination.
The vaccines that the government has secured so far are the products of a total of four companies, including Modena, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Janssen, and the organizations that can receive vaccinations vary depending on the product.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the 4th, mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines such as Modena and Pfizer products can be received at vaccination centers equipped with cryogenic freezers.
Other vaccines, like influenza (flu) vaccines, are given at consigned medical institutions such as local hospitals.
The reason that only the mRNA vaccine is vaccinated at a separate center is because the storage of this vaccine is difficult.
Pfizer’s vaccine should be kept at a cryogenic temperature of around -70 degrees Celsius, and modena vaccines should be kept at -20 degrees Celsius.
Therefore, a cryogenic freezer is essentially installed in each vaccination center.
The government plans to establish and operate 250 vaccination centers in each municipality by July.
Currently, there is one center in the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul.
According to the government’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, from this month, about 9,900 doctors working in the base dedicated hospital and infectious disease hospital, treatment beds for severe patients, and life treatment centers, 29,000 nurses, and 9,800 other personnel. And 48,900 people will get the vaccine.
They are expected to receive the Pfizer vaccine introduced through the COVAX facility, an international project for joint purchase and distribution of vaccines.
Separately, visit vaccinations are also administered for those who are difficult to find medical institutions, such as those in nursing homes for the elderly or facilities for the severely disabled.
The government is reviewing a proposal to form an inoculation team with one doctor, one nurse, and two administrative personnel.
The distribution process of the vaccine is somewhat complicated as there are various corona 19 vaccines secured by the government, and vaccinations are divided into 250 vaccination centers and 10,000 consigned medical institutions.
Corona 19 vaccine distribution can be classified into two broad categories depending on the production location.
In the case of AstraZeneca products, they can be produced at domestic factories as long as they have signed a contract for production with a domestic company.
In this case, a domestic distribution company is in charge of transporting the vaccine, and it is sent to each consignment medical institution through the integrated logistics center.
In the case of importing products manufactured overseas, the manufacturer can directly transport it to the center, or the domestic distributor can store it in the integrated logistics center and send it to the inoculation center.
Since all vaccines introduced through COVAX are manufactured overseas, they are transported from the integrated logistics center to the vaccination center.
In the distribution process, for mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Modena, it is essential to maintain a’cold chain’ (refrigerated distribution).
In Germany and the U.S., where the corona 19 vaccination was previously started, vaccination was delayed or some of the supplies were discarded due to a cold chain problem during the transport of Pfizer vaccine.
In order to respond to such an accident, the government conducted a simulated transport training on the assumption that the Pfizer vaccine was received through Kovacs the day before.
While the distribution company transported the vaccine model received from Incheon Airport to the distribution center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitored the transportation situation, and the Ministry of National Defense and the National Police Agency secured a traffic line to ensure the 5t transport vehicle runs safely.
After the transportation vehicle arrived at the distribution center, the distributor divided the vaccine into distribution units of the vaccination center, loaded it in a 1 ton transportation vehicle, and sent it to the vaccination center of the National Medical Center.
/yunhap news