Started transport of AstraZeneca vaccine▶ Click here for a larger view
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“As it is, forwards, forwards”, “stop for a minute”.
Logistics center in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do at 12:50 on the 24th. As usual, it was time for the employees who had lunch to take a sigh or have a cup of coffee, but on this day the center was busy thanks to the’important guests’.
It was the day that about 173,000 people (347,000 doses) of AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine, which will be used for Korea’s first new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccination, were first shipped to the world outside the factory after a long preparation process.
The vaccine, which finished shipping at SK Bioscience’s factory in Andong, Gyeongbuk, that consignment production of AstraZeneca vaccine, was loaded on a 5 ton refrigerated truck and headed to the Icheon distribution center a little after 10 am that day.
Specially prepared for vaccine transportation, the truck is equipped with vehicle temperature measurement equipment, which enables real-time location tracking as well as monitoring the condition of the’cold chain’ (low temperature distribution) required for vaccine storage and transportation.
It is about 184 km from Andong to Icheon. It takes about two hours to use the highway, but since safe transportation is more important than anything else, both the military and the police were mobilized to mobilize to’guard’.
Two police sidecars stood in the lead, followed by a car parade including one patrol car, one vaccine transport truck, one military police car, one police commando, one patrol car, two sidecars, and one riot bus.
It is reported that about 40 soldiers and police were employed to escort the vaccine transport truck.
The distribution center where the vaccine will arrive was also busy from early in the morning. Police and military personnel were on standby around the center building long before the vaccine arrived, and there was strict alertness.
More than 20 employees of the center were also busy moving wearing vests that read’Safe transport of COVID-19 vaccine’.
At 12:30 p.m., when the vaccine delivery line finally arrived at the center, the tension at the site increased.
As police patrol cars, vaccine transport trucks, and military police cars passed through the front door in turn, logistics center staff approached the driver’s seat of these vehicles, measured each driver’s body temperature, and guided them to the parking lot.
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AstraZeneca vaccine delivered to transport vehicle▶ Click here for a larger view
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Eventually, at 12:40 noon, a soldier pulled off the red sticker on one side of the truck, and the inside of the container containing the vaccine appeared. The forklift, which was waiting on one side, slowly moved, and full-scale unloading work began.
The forklift loaded the container and headed to the place marked’Wear A’and slowly pushed the container inside. To prevent even small mistakes, the employees focused on shouting’to the right’,’wait a minute’, and’as is’.
At 1:20 pm, about 30 minutes later, the container came out of the dock with all vaccines emptied.
When all the work was finished, the site officials seemed relieved.
A transport truck standing on one side of the parking lot was large enough to be seen from a distance and said, “The first domestic license, the first shipment of the Corona 19 vaccine! Our company produces it and supplies it to Korea and the world.”
Ahn Seong-sik, the leader of the highway patrol at the Gyeonggi Southern Office, who participated in the transport that day, said, “I took great care not to cause terrorism or accidents during the vaccine transport process.”
He said, “I am very impressed to be involved in the vaccine transport service for the safety of the people,” and “I will take full responsibility until the end so that there is no disruption in the vaccine transport business until Sunday.”
Lee Sang-guk (48), who was in charge of loading and unloading with a forklift, said in a phone call with Yonhap News that “I practiced two to three times, but I was very careful one by one as it was the first time I actually used a vaccine.”
A veteran who has been driving a forklift for about 30 years, he said, “I had a lot of trouble,” in case he would make a small mistake. “I hope the corona 19 vaccination is successful and (all situations) end well.”
AstraZeneca vaccine is administered daily for 4 days from the 25th to 163,000 people (326,000 doses), 163,000 people (327,000 doses), 143,000 people (286,000 doses) , 142,000 people (284,000 doses) will be delivered to the distribution center in turn.
Vaccination starts on the 26th for workers aged 65 and residents in nursing hospitals and nursing facilities nationwide.
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First shipment of Corona 19 vaccine, transport truck revealed▶ Click here for a larger view
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