This file photo shows vials of British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s vaccine. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 15 (Korea Bizwire) — With South Korea’s major hospitals starting COVID-19 vaccinations for their healthcare workers, the so-called low dead space (LDS) syringe has contributed to greatly increasing the number of vaccinated people per vial of the vaccine.
The Seoul National University Hospital vaccinated a total of 3,240 people with 277 vials of AstraZeneca’s vaccine against COVID-19 during the period from March 4 to 9.
The hospital was originally scheduled to vaccinate 10 people with a single vial but the number of vaccinated people per vial increased to 11.7 thanks to the use of LDS syringes.
LDS syringes are special syringes that limit the dead space existing between the piston and the needle to minimize the amount of residual vaccine left in syringes.
At present, LDS syringes are used for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Other hospitals also use the special LDS syringes to administer the vaccine to more than 11 people per vial.
Samsung Medical Center vaccinated about 6,400 individuals with 580 vials of AstraZeneca vaccine. In other words, it administered the vaccine to 11 people per vial on average.
“The remaining vaccines will be used to vaccinate those on the preliminary priority list, including patient transport staff and street cleaners,” an official at Severance Hospital said.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
