"The Precious Vaccines..." Vaccines Disposed One After Another Due to Absurd Mistakes

On the morning of the 3rd, two days before the 100th day since the start of COVID-19 vaccination, medical staff are administering vaccines at the vaccination center set up at Jungnang Culture and Sports Center in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Seoyoung] Due to poor storage and management, COVID-19 vaccines are being discarded around the world.

Today (the 6th), the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that more than 7,000 unused vaccine doses have been discarded across Japan. This accounts for about 0.05% of the total 15.6 million vaccine doses administered in Japan as of the 3rd. Japan began vaccinating healthcare workers in February and has continued vaccinating those aged 65 and older. In this context, the Japanese government has also expressed its intention to use surplus COVID-19 vaccines as part of its diplomatic policy.

However, most of the vaccine wastage in Japan has been found to be due to poor management. At a hospital in Fukuoka Prefecture and a mass vaccination site in Kobe City, Pfizer vaccines requiring storage at around minus 70 degrees Celsius were left at room temperature, resulting in the disposal of 1,000 doses. Additionally, at a mass vaccination site in Minato Ward, Tokyo, a healthcare worker mistakenly diluted already diluted Pfizer vaccine with saline again, leading to the disposal of 12 doses.

Meanwhile, a bizarre case of vaccine wastage also occurred in Kyrgyzstan. On the same day, foreign media including the Kalgitimes reported that around 1,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine were discarded around the 23rd of last month. This happened because a cleaner working at a hospital in Bishkek unplugged the refrigerator storing the vaccines to charge their mobile phone. The Kyrgyz health authorities held the cleaner responsible for the wastage.

Sputnik V vaccines produced after February are known not to require frozen storage. However, the 20,000 doses supplied by Russia to Kyrgyzstan around February were early production batches that required frozen storage at minus 18 degrees Celsius, which led to this incident. Kyrgyzstan’s vaccination rate ranks among the lowest globally, standing at only 0.57%.

South Korea is not free from such vaccine management issues either. As of May 30, Jeong Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, announced that about 3,000 doses have been discarded domestically due to temperature control issues, damage, and other problems. The largest cause of vaccine wastage was temperature management issues, mostly due to power supply problems or malfunctions of refrigerators, or power outages. Commissioner Jeong stated, "We are conducting thorough training for those in charge to minimize vaccine wastage."