SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The South Korean agency for disease control and prevention has allowed health professionals to squeeze extra doses from vials of coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
The decision on Saturday came after some health workers administering the AstraZeneca injections reported to authorities that they were still seeing additional doses in the bottles used for 10 injections each.
KDCA official Jeong Gyeong-shil said skilled workers could be able to squeeze one or two additional doses from each vial if they use low dead volume syringes designed to reduce drug and vaccine waste.
However, she said the KDCA does not allow health professionals to combine vaccines in different bottles to create more doses.
The KDCA 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 admitting the AstraZeneca injections to residents and workers in long-term care facilities and the Pfizer injections to primary care providers.
South Korea reported another 405 cases of coronavirus on Saturday.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
More than 500,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday after a two-day delay due to export procedures, providing a second inoculation option for the city. The Pfizer BioNTech shots will be offered to approximately 2.4 million eligible residents of priority groups such as the over-60s and health professionals. About 70,000 residents who signed up for the vaccination program, which started on Friday, will receive the injections developed by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac. The Sinovac vaccines came in first last week. Registration details for those who wish to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech images have not yet been disclosed. Hong Kong has closed deals for a total of 22.5 million doses, of which 7.5 million each from Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Fosun Pharma, which supplies the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The government has so far approved the vaccines Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech.
Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, is going back to a seven-day lockdown after a new unexplained coronavirus case was found. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this on Saturday evening after an urgent meeting with top lawmakers in the cabinet. She said the lockdown would take effect Sunday morning. Auckland was placed in a three-day lockdown earlier this month after new cases of the more contagious variety first found in Britain were found. New Zealand has followed a zero-tolerance elimination strategy with the virus and successfully eradicated the spread of the community before the last cases were found this month. Ardern said the last patient had had symptoms since earlier in the week and could infect others. The rest of New Zealand will also have more restrictions.
– The Sri Lankan Ministry of Health 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 on the rise. There were 466 new cases in the last 24 hours. Sri Lankan started its vaccination campaign in January, starting with health workers. To date, more than 406,000 people have received their injection.