South Korea will roll out its first coronavirus vaccine shots on Friday, while Australia experienced two cases of overdosing in elderly recipients on Wednesday, as Asian countries start vaccine rollouts in South Korea and Malysia.
South Korea Looks to Immunize 10 Million in High-Risk Group
On Friday, the first round of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will be administered in South Korea, as part of the program's goal of immunizing 10 million people in the high-risk group within five months.
The transfer of AstraZeneca doses from SK bioscience production plants to immunization centers across the country already started on Wednesday. The first shots will be administered to nursing and care homes.
South Korea was one of the first countries that were initially hailed for its successful responses against the novel coronavirus in the first wave.
Probe into Australia's Overdose Cases
Australia's COVID-19 immunization program has been met with a major obstacle as two elderly patients at the Holy Spirit Nursing Home in Brisbane were administered five times more than the recommended doses.
Due to the mishap, an investigation has been launched into the overdosing cases, and the federal government has issued a warning.
Should the investigation's results indicate that the doctor who administered the vaccines to the 94-year-old woman and the 88-year-old man was not eligible for vaccine administration, there will be problems for Healthcare Australia, the government said.
Phase one of Australia's vaccination program will include home care and aged care homes residents and staff, frontline workers, medical workers, and border quarantine staff.
Malaysian Prime Minister Gets First Shot
On Wednesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was the first to get immunized in the country's nationwide coronavirus vaccination program. He received the first two dozes of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Putrajaya.
The program is looking to immunize 26 million residents across the country, with the first phase rolling out between this week and April.
First on the list after Muhyiddin are health workers and frontline staff, whether they are in the medical field or not. The next shots will then be available for the rest of the country.
Malaysia has secured more than 66 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from five pharmaceuticals. However, only the Pfizer-BioNTech has been approved by the Health Ministry so far.
Questions have been raised about whether the timeline of inoculating at least 80% of the total Malaysian population by February 2022 will be achieved if only one vaccine shot has been approved.
Two Vaccine Companies Hopeful of China's Approval
In China, two pharmaceutical companies are hoping to get their COVID-19 vaccines approved by the Chinese government.
Tianjin-based CanSino, a company that helped develop an Ebola vaccine, said Wednesday that its coronavirus vaccine had a 65% prevention efficacy rate. Aside from prevention, the company said its vaccine had a 90% efficacy on protecting against severe symptoms.
CanSino's vaccine has already been approved for emergency use in Pakistan, Mexico, and a few other countries.
Another company, the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, also announced on Wednesday that its COVID-19 vaccine has an efficacy rate of 72.5%.
The Wuhan Institute of Biological Products is a subsidiary of Sinopharm, whose coronavirus vaccine has been used in Hungary for the first time in Europe on Wednesday.
