J, who works as a medical representative in A Pharmaceuticals, has been struggling with his smartphone for 3 hours. J had finished his lunch early to try and reserve the no-show vaccines. However, both the Naver and Kakao applications on his phone were not working. Even after the server was restored, both maps were full of ‘0’s. He expanded the search area to all of Seoul and renewed the page several times. One hospital popped up, but the 10 shots that were available immediately turned to 0 as he pressed the reservation button. Dispirited, he pressed the notification services in various nearby hospitals, then put down his smartphone

According to industry sources on the 27th, pharmaceutical companies have been internally encouraging vaccination with the ‘no-show vaccines’ to their employees. By hastening the vaccination of their employees, the companies sought to reduce group infections and normalize their business activities that have shrunk down due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, the companies are seeing the leftover vaccines as an exit strategy-the fastest way out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One year and three months have passed since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 'COVID-19' pandemic. Industry’s fatigue is accumulating with the repeated ups and downs in the prescription drug market.

Medical representatives who were unable to conduct normal sales activities for nearly a year since the entry into clinics and hospitals were restricted are at the end of their tether. The prescription drug market has not shown signs of recovery after the social distancing level was raised at the end of last year.

With pressure for sales performance rising, the atmosphere in the companies for MRs to receive COVID-19 vaccinations as soon as possible’ have been tacitly created. If the number of vaccinated employees increase, the companies could reduce the proportion of telecommuters and boost sales activities that have been shrinking.



The COVID-19 vaccination response task force made the decision to disclose the information on leftover vaccines to the public in a bid to minimize the waste of COVID-19 vaccines. AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine can inoculate up to ten people per one vial, but once opened, the vial must be used within six hours or be discarded. Until now, people who wish to receive the vaccine had to directly call the commissioned medical institutions and put their name on a waiting list. A search and real-time reservation function was developed as a pilot program so that people could search for leftover vaccines through the Naver and Kakao map platform from 1 p.m. on the 27th, and will be operated for 2 weeks.

As the reservation for ‘leftover vaccines,’ or no-show vaccines started at 1 p.m. on the 27th, pharmaceutical MRs were busy attempting reservations of the vaccines. However, it was difficult to find success stories in the Seoul area.

An MR from A pharmaceuticals said, “I did the authentication process in advance and was fully prepared to reserve the no-show vaccines, but I also failed. Our Kakaotalk chat room was busy all day with the talk about reserving no-show vaccines. Other than those who had reserved vaccines in advance in noncapital regions like Busan, none of my colleagues were able to succeed in making the reservations.”

The situation does not only apply to MRs. Attempts to reserve the no-show vaccines have increased greatly among pharmaceutical employees working at manufacturing plants and research sites. These employees who hold manufacturing and research duties at the pharmaceutical companies are those that can cause enormous damage to the company in the case of shutdowns.

The opinion is that by completing inoculation, the employees can be free from the risk of becoming the first infected in their companies. Also, the ‘incentive’ policy to ease restrictions for those vaccinated with COVId-19 is seen to have had some influence on raising interest in the no-show vaccine.

An employee from a plant at B Pharmaceuticals said, “No formal instructions were given, but most of my colleagues have already listed their names on the waiting list for leftover vaccines. Many have already completed their first vaccinations. As more and more colleagues joining in for the reservation, we have applied for the reservation at a nearby hospital and are awaiting their notification.”