BANGKOK, Aug 25 – As Thailand struggles with its worst coronavirus outbreak yet, researchers in the country have developed a machine to draw out COVID-19 vaccine doses more efficiently and optimize lower-than-expected supplies.
Using a robotic arm, the “AutoVacc” system can draw 12 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in four minutes from a vial, according to researchers at Chulalongkorn University, who made the machine that has been used at the university’s vaccination center since Monday.
That is up 20% from the standard 10 doses drawn manually, they said. The machine only works on AstraZeneca multi-dose vials currently and labels show each vial can provide 10 to 11 doses.
“The machine guarantees with accuracy that we can gain an extra 20% from each vaccine vial – from 10 to 12 doses,” said Juthamas Ratanavaraporn, the lead researcher of the team at the university’s…
