SNS Remaining Vaccine Reservations Difficult in June... Authorities "Collecting Leftover AZ, Janssen for 60 and Older" (Update)

"Both 1st and 2nd doses start on July 1... Remaining vaccine reservations will also be possible"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] It appears that making reservations for leftover vaccines via SNS will be difficult for the remainder of June. The government stated, "Vaccinations from June's advance reservations are almost complete, so it is currently difficult to book leftover vaccines, but there may be leftover quantities in July."

On the 23rd, Hong Jeong-ik, head of the COVID-19 Vaccination Management Team at the Vaccination Response Promotion Group, said during a back briefing, "Currently, AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine advance reservation vaccinations have ended, and vaccinations for this month are concluding. Remaining vaccines at entrusted medical institutions are being collected by public health centers." He added, "The remaining Janssen vaccines are very limited and are being completely used up. For entrusted medical institutions, 1 to 2 doses left are mainly administered to seniors aged 60 and over, and other leftover quantities are used up according to existing principles."

Accordingly, leftover vaccine vaccinations are expected to continue for only a day or two more for Janssen. As of midnight today, the remaining doses by vaccine type are: AZ vaccine 400,000 doses, Pfizer vaccine 982,000 doses, Moderna vaccine 53,400 doses, and Janssen 8,320 doses.

Team leader Hong explained, "When vaccinations resume in July, they will start with the second dose of the AZ vaccine, which may result in leftover quantities. Since first-dose vaccinations will also expand after mid-July, reservations for leftover vaccines should be possible."

Meanwhile, amid recent concerns that automatic input repetition (macro) programs may have been used for leftover vaccine reservations, authorities have stated that they have obtained the relevant programs and are reviewing technical measures. Jeong Woo-jin, head of the system management team at the Promotion Group, emphasized, "Macros available on the market were arbitrarily developed to perform repetitive tasks separately from the Naver and Kakao vaccination systems. We have separately obtained macro programs and are reviewing whether there is room for technical measures."