[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team announced on the 18th that Moderna's COVID-19 monovalent vaccine vaccinations will end starting from the 17th of next month.
On this day, the Promotion Team explained that the expiration date of the currently introduced Moderna monovalent vaccine is until the 16th of next month, and considering the public's vaccination demand and supply plans, vaccinations will be terminated, with no plans for additional vaccine procurement.
The Moderna monovalent vaccine, developed in response to the initial Wuhan strain, was introduced domestically on June 1st last year and vaccinations began at 45 tertiary hospitals targeting healthcare workers under the age of 30, with approximately 25 million doses administered to date.
However, since the start of additional winter vaccinations last month, about 500 doses have been administered daily on average, and the number of vaccinations continues to decline. The daily average number of Moderna monovalent vaccine doses administered steadily decreased from 60,933 in the first week of November last year to 10,120 in the first week of May this year, and 529 in the first week of this month.
Those who have vaccination appointments for the Moderna monovalent vaccine after the 17th of next month can either advance their vaccination schedule or switch to another vaccine. The authorities will provide individual guidance via text messages regarding details on vaccine and vaccination schedule changes.
Among them, those with second dose appointments can switch to the Pfizer monovalent vaccine or recombinant vaccines (Skycovione, Novavax) for their vaccination. However, those with third or fourth dose appointments are primarily recommended to receive messenger RNA (mRNA) bivalent vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) to respond to the winter resurgence.
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