'Vaccine Boritgogae' Becomes Reality... Pfizer First Dose Reduced to Focus on Second Dose Completion

On the 3rd, medical staff at the vaccination center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, are moving Pfizer vaccines to the vaccination room. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The much-feared "vaccine bottleneck" has become a reality. Although over 3 million people in South Korea have received COVID-19 vaccinations, the government has decided to reduce first-dose Pfizer vaccinations until mid-month to focus on second-dose administration. The supply of AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines is also not smooth.

According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Task Force on the 3rd, many nationwide vaccination centers responsible for administering the Pfizer vaccine have stopped accepting first-dose reservations or have reduced the number of reservations since the 30th of last month.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, explained the day before, "Currently, Pfizer vaccinations are focused on second doses," adding, "The number of first-dose recipients has been reduced, but intensive first-dose vaccinations are scheduled to resume from late this month."

Out of the 2,006,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine introduced domestically, about 1.8 million doses have been administered, leaving only about 200,000 doses remaining. As of the previous day, 345,000 doses of AZ vaccine remain in the country. Considering that about 510,000 people received their first AZ dose in the past week, there is less than a week's supply left.

Since Son stated that "the same principle applies to the AZ vaccine," if second-dose AZ vaccinations intensify by mid-month, the AZ vaccine may also face a suspension of first-dose vaccinations.

Criticism has arisen that the government hastily advanced vaccinations to achieve the goal of "3 million vaccinated by the end of April," thereby causing the vaccine bottleneck. However, the government explained that this is "according to the original vaccination plan" and assured that there will be no vaccine shortages through the use of low dead space (LDS) syringes and continuous supply introductions. The AZ vaccine has already saved about 170,000 doses through LDS syringes, and the remaining 345,000 doses could be increased to about 380,000 doses. Similarly, the Pfizer vaccine currently has 529,000 doses remaining thanks to LDS syringe use.

The AZ vaccine scheduled for introduction within the first half of the year amounts to 8,668,000 doses, and the Pfizer vaccine to 5,297,000 doses. However, specific delivery schedules have not yet been announced. The government plans to hold a special COVID-19 response inspection meeting this afternoon to finalize vaccination plans for May and June.

As of midnight on the same day, 488 new COVID-19 cases were reported, marking a return to the 400s after a week since 499 cases on the 26th of last month. However, this is interpreted as a "weekend effect," as the number of tests conducted the previous day was only 33,091, about half of the weekday level.

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