Source: China News Network
China News Service, August 9 According to the Central News Agency, the supply of the new crown vaccine produced by Moderna was delayed due to laboratory problems. The amount of vaccines originally scheduled to be supplied to South Korea in August was reduced to less than half. On the 9th, the South Korean authorities decided to extend the interval between the two doses of vaccination to 6 weeks.
Data picture: On May 7, staff from Incheon International Airport, South Korea strictly implemented epidemic prevention measures. Photo by Liu Xu, China News Service reporter
Modna delayed supply to South Korea in July due to production issues. The corresponding promotion team for vaccination said at a regular press conference on the 9th that Moderna's side notified that the actual arrival volume of 8.5 million doses of Moderna vaccines that were originally expected to arrive in South Korea in August will be less than half.
promotion team said that South Korea has protested to Moderna, but Moderna said that the supply delay caused by production issues is not aimed at South Korea, but has expanded to the whole world. He apologized for this and promised to ship it as soon as possible. South Korea ordered 40 million doses of vaccine from Moderna, providing 20 million people with a total of 2.455 million doses as of the 9th.
South Korea's vaccination plan has also been affected. The promotion team announced on the 9th that the interval between the dose of Moderna vaccine will be extended from 4 weeks to 6 weeks for those who are scheduled to receive the second dose of Moderna vaccine after August 16. However, considering that the school will start in the second semester, the vaccination interval between kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers and kindergarteners will be maintained at 5 weeks as much as possible.
South Korea's Minister of Disease Management Zheng Yinjing emphasized that it is not only South Korea that adjusts the vaccination interval due to vaccine supply or epidemic situation. For example, the vaccination intervals of Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca in the UK are maintained at 8 weeks, while the vaccination intervals of Pfizer and Moderna in Canada can reach up to 16 weeks.
The World Health Organization recommends that the vaccination rate of high-risk groups is low, but the vaccination interval can be extended to within 12 weeks when the vaccine supply is difficult.
As of 00:00 on the 9th local time, about 20.936 million people in South Korea received at least one dose of vaccine, accounting for 40.8% of the total population; of which more than 7.72 million people were fully vaccinated, accounting for 15% of the population.
