Moderna Vaccine 780,000 Doses Disposed... Authorities Say "Partial Vaccine Disposal Is Inevitable"

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Regarding the disposal of 780,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine last month, health authorities explained that as the nationwide primary vaccination schedule ended, the number of new reservations decreased, making some vaccine disposal inevitable.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team stated in a press release on the afternoon of the 9th, "So far, about 81.67 million COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered, and the amount of vaccine disposal is about 1.07 million doses, which is 1.35% of the total vaccinations." They added, "Some vaccine disposal is unavoidable to quickly increase vaccination rates and provide convenience to the public."

According to data on 'vaccine disposal status' received from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) by Choi Yeon-sook, a member of the People's Party, a total of 78,367 vials (781,477 doses) of COVID-19 vaccines were disposed of from the 1st to the 25th of last month, of which 77,454 vials (774,545 doses) were Moderna vaccines. Considering that the total vaccines disposed of nationwide as of the 25th of last month were 81,575 vials (806,022 doses), the disposed Moderna vaccines accounted for 96.1% of all disposed vaccines last month.

Regarding this, Ko Jae-young, spokesperson for the KDCA, explained, "October was the period when the nationwide primary vaccination schedule ended, so the number of new reservations gradually decreased. Since COVID-19 vaccines are multi-dose vaccines, pre-delivery exceeding the daily reservation numbers was necessary." He added, "After thawing, the refrigerated shelf life is relatively short at 30 days, making long-term storage difficult." He also noted, "Vaccines were allocated and delivered to all institutions to facilitate same-day vaccination for unvaccinated individuals, and disposal occurred among vaccines stored at medical institutions that had already been delivered."

Regarding the concentration of disposal in Moderna vaccines, Hong Jung-ik, head of the Vaccination Management Team at the Promotion Team, explained, "Moderna vaccines are not administered at vaccination centers but only at entrusted medical institutions, so they are delivered refrigerated." He further added, "After vaccinations for those aged 18 to 49 were completed, only Pfizer vaccines were administered to children and adolescents, which significantly reduced the utilization of leftover Moderna vaccines." This led to a decrease in usage of vaccines nearing expiration, resulting in increased disposal.

On the other hand, Pfizer vaccines are administered both at entrusted medical institutions and vaccination centers. Pfizer vaccines are delivered refrigerated with a 30-day shelf life to entrusted medical institutions, similar to Moderna, but to vaccination centers, they are delivered frozen with a 6-month shelf life and thawed only as needed, which has reduced disposal amounts.

The Promotion Team stated, "Some vaccine disposal is expected to be unavoidable to quickly increase vaccination rates and provide convenience to the public." They added, "We have continuously guided vaccination institutions to use vaccines on a first-in, first-out basis and have implemented measures to use vaccines nearing expiration regardless of leftover vaccine status."

They also explained that going forward, a day-of-week system for entrusted medical institutions will be implemented to concentrate dispersed reservations for more efficient vaccinations, and surplus doses will be delivered to public health centers to minimize disposal.

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