"Is a 'Vaccine Barley Break' Coming... COVAX AZ Vaccine Delayed by 3 Weeks"

Introduction volume also decreased by 129,000 doses
Janssen, Novavax, and Moderna unable to schedule for Q2

On the afternoon of the 15th, medical staff demonstrated the preparation of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine at the COVID-19 vaccination center set up in the auditorium of Seongdong-gu Office in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jung] The number of people eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in the second quarter has expanded significantly to 11.5 million, compared to 760,000 in the first quarter, but concerns over a 'vaccine bottleneck' are growing as vaccine imports are delayed.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on the 30th, the shipment of 345,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine originally scheduled for transport on the 31st through COVAX, the international vaccine joint procurement project, has been postponed to the third week of next month, and the quantity has been reduced to 216,000 doses.

As the world enters a competition to secure vaccines, supply was delayed after India halted exports of AstraZeneca vaccines produced domestically. KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyung said at a briefing the day before, "Due to delays in the supply schedule of AstraZeneca doses produced by the Serum Institute of India, which were to be allocated to low-income countries, COVAX has decided to change the vaccine supply plan for all participating countries in the first half of the year."

Currently, in addition to the 129,000 AstraZeneca doses from COVAX that were not received in March, the 705,000 doses scheduled for supply in April and May are also likely to be delayed. Commissioner Jeong said, "COVAX has notified that the remaining AstraZeneca doses will be supplied, if possible, in May, but this is also subject to change," adding, "We will inform you once the schedule is confirmed."

The specific supply schedules for Janssen, Novavax, and Moderna vaccines planned for the second quarter have not yet been finalized. Although the quarantine authorities are making all-out efforts at the inter-ministerial level to expand vaccine imports, as countries prioritize their own citizens, there is a worst-case scenario where only small amounts of vaccines will be available in April and May. If the vaccines scheduled for the second quarter are not supplied on time, it will be difficult to maintain the vaccination intervals.

Among the vaccines planned for import, except for Janssen, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax all require two doses, with recommended intervals varying from a minimum of 3 weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks depending on the vaccine. Commissioner Jeong stated, "We will carefully plan the vaccination schedule to maximize the first dose," and added, "This is not a strategy like the UK’s, which decided not to administer the second dose at all."

The quarantine authorities explained that if the second dose is delayed, it should be administered as soon as possible, but even if the second dose is delayed, there is no need to restart the first dose.

According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, as of midnight today, 26,538 new vaccinations were administered, bringing the total number of people who have completed the first dose to 822,448. The number of new second-dose vaccinations was 919, with a total of 6,151 people having completed the vaccination. Among them, 761,771 received the AstraZeneca vaccine, and 60,677 received the Pfizer vaccine.

Reports of adverse reactions after vaccination increased by 138 cases from the previous day, totaling 10,485 cases. There was one death case, four suspected anaphylaxis cases, and the rest were mild. The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Korea rose back to the 400s at 447 cases in one day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.