SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The South Korean Disease Prevention and Control Agency has allowed health workers to extract additional doses of coronavirus vaccine vials developed by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Saturday’s decision came after some health workers who administered AstraZeneca’s shots informed authorities that they still saw additional doses in the bottles that had been used for 10 injections.
KDCA official Jeong Gyeong-shil said skilled workers could squeeze an extra dose or two from each vial if they use low-volume syringes designed to reduce lost medications and vaccines.
However, he said the KDCA does not allow health workers to combine the remaining vaccines in different bottles to create more doses.
The KDCA had previously authorized 10 injections for each vial of AstraZeneca and six for each vial of Pfizer.
South Korea, which launched its public vaccination campaign on Friday, manages the firing of AstraZeneca to long-term care center residents and workers and those of Pfizer to front-line medical workers.
South Korea on Saturday reported another 405 cases of coronavirus.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– More than 500,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday after a two-day delay due to export procedures, offering a second inoculation option in the city. Pfizer-BioNTech’s shots will be offered to about 2.4 million eligible residents of priority groups such as those 60 and older and health workers. About 70,000 residents who have signed up for the vaccination program, which began Friday, will receive the features developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac. Sinovac vaccines were the first to arrive last week. Registration details for those wishing to receive Pfizer-BioNTech captures have not yet been announced. Hong Kong has entered into agreements for a total of 22.5 million doses, with 7.5 million each from Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Fosun Pharma, which delivers Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The government has so far approved the Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
—- The largest city in Auckland, New Zealand, is closed again for seven days after finding a new case of unexplained coronavirus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement on Saturday evening after an urgent meeting with top cabinet lawmakers. He said the blockade would take effect from Sunday morning. Auckland closed earlier this month for three days after finding new cases of the most contagious variant first found in Britain. New Zealand has pursued a strategy of eliminating zero tolerance to the virus and has successfully eliminated the spread of the community before the latest cases were found this month. Ardern said the last patient had experienced symptoms since the beginning of the week and could have infected others. The rest of New Zealand will also have increased restrictions.
– The Sri Lankan Ministry of Health has decided to vaccinate everyone aged 30 and over in high-risk areas of the capital Colombo and the suburbs where COVID-19 cases are on the rise. There have been 466 new cases in the last 24 hours. Sri Lanka began its inoculation in January starting with health workers. To date, more than 406,000 people have been shot.