Only Two Days' Supply Left of AZ Vaccine... Will First Dose Vaccination Be Suspended Again?

Over 90% of Domestic Supply Used Up... Only 170,000 Doses Remaining

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] It has been revealed that less than 200,000 doses of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine remain in South Korea. Previously, the government advised refraining from new first-dose vaccinations with the Pfizer vaccine for three weeks due to a 'temporary supply imbalance,' and now there is a possibility that first-dose vaccinations with the AZ vaccine may also be temporarily suspended.

According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team on the 2nd, a total of 2,006,000 doses of the AZ vaccine have been imported into the country so far. Of these, 1,574,000 doses were introduced through a direct contract with AstraZeneca, and 432,000 doses were supplied via the international vaccine joint procurement project, COVAX Facility.

As of midnight on the same day, 1,829,239 people have received their first dose of the AZ vaccine in South Korea. This means that 91.2% of the total AZ vaccine doses introduced domestically have been used. The remaining amount is 176,761 doses, which, even if the number of vaccinations is increased using low dead space (LDS) syringes, amounts to only about 200,000 doses. Recently, about 100,000 people have been receiving the AZ vaccine daily, so if this trend continues, the vaccine supply will run out within two days.

Concerns are especially heightened as the second dose of the AZ vaccine is scheduled to begin on the 14th of this month. If no additional vaccine supply arrives before the 14th, disruptions to the second-dose vaccinations are inevitable. The AZ vaccine requires two doses at intervals of 11 to 12 weeks, with the first dose having started on February 26. The number of people scheduled for the second dose by the end of next month is expected to reach 1 million.

For now, the government plans to receive an additional 7 million doses through direct contracts and 1,668,000 doses via COVAX by June. However, the specific monthly delivery schedule has not yet been disclosed.