With a nationwide vaccination campaign scheduled for next month, South Korean manufacturers are looking ahead to the mass production of syringes. But challenges remain, as the government has yet to designate the type of syringes to be used.

According to industry sources Thursday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency recently made phone calls to domestic syringe makers regarding their production capacity and the types of syringes they can manufacture.

“Despite the phone calls, the KDCA hasn’t given us a specific guideline on which syringe to mass produce, so we are in a wait-and-see mode,” said an official from Sungshim Medical, a local syringe maker.

“If the government orders the mass production of typical medical syringes widely used in hospitals, manufacturers will be able to meet the extra demand by ramping up the production. However, if the government wants a new type of syringe dedicated for vaccination with different properties and structural designs, an immediate mass production will be impossible.”

In the US, where vaccination is set to begin as early as Jan. 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires all syringes used for vaccines to have safety needles designed to prevent needle-stick injuries to health workers. Such syringes have safety caps covering the needles. After use, the needles retract into the safety caps.

“Discussion is underway regarding which syringe to use for the vaccination. We will make an announcement as soon as the decision is made,” a KDCA official said.

Korea, which has secured 20 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine -- enough for 10 million people -- aims to start inoculations as early as late February. Two 0.5-milliliter doses are recommended for each person, spaced between four and 12 weeks apart.

According to Shin Chang Medical, another local medical device company, domestic manufacturers can produce up to 500 million 1-milliliter general medical syringes annually. It costs about 50 won (between 4 and 5 cents) to make a general medical syringe, while a safety syringe costs almost double. 

Also, there are just a handful of companies that can manufacture safety syringes -- Sang-A Frontec and Korea Vaccine among them -- as safety syringes are less profitable.

“Safety syringes, as they are used in special circumstances, are only produced in small amounts when orders come in. As safety syringes cannot achieve the economy of scale, syringe makers lose money every time they make them, which is why there are only a few producing them. If the government ordered us to supply 20 million safety syringes by next month, it would be impossible,” a Korea Vaccine official said.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)