“Concerns about preferential fertilization” vs. “We must take the lead”… Local government’s vaccine priority’Gaproneul Park’

Input 2021.03.09 15:40

The initiatives of the heads of local governments to receive vaccination against coronavirus infectious disease at the forefront have been braked one after another. As the claims that giving priority to those who do not work directly in the quarantine field are confronted with the claim that it is a preferential treatment and that the vaccine should be relieved of anxiety by taking an initiative, local government heads have deepened their concerns over whether to receive priority vaccination.

According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the 9th, corona 1st responders belonging to local governments are included in priority vaccination in the first quarter. Currently, regional disaster and safety countermeasure headquarters are established in all cities, counties, and gus including metropolitan cities and provinces, and each local government heads the head of the disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters. Accordingly, it was initially interpreted that all local government heads could receive the corona vaccine first.

In Daejeon City, Jung-gu Officer Park Yong-gap and Daedeok-gu Officer Park Jeong-hyun had already completed vaccination on the 6th, and other local government heads, including Seoul City, stepped forward to take the initiative to get the vaccine.

However, the Agency for Disease Control and Prevention came back in five days and drew a line saying that it had not discussed the priority vaccination of local governments due to reasons such as the supply of vaccines. The Agency for Disease Control and Prevention said, “Only personnel who directly perform on-site response tasks are included in the target for vaccination, and non-site tasks, including the head of the headquarters, have requested again not to be included in the primary response personnel.”

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Accident Control Headquarters, also said, “We haven’t discussed this in depth or reviewed this part professionally at the level of the main script (about the priority vaccination of local government heads).” Given the limited supply and demand of vaccines, it was judged that the need for first vaccination was low even for local government heads who did not directly enter the quarantine field.

As a result, most of the local government heads’ plans to receive vaccinations were disrupted. The city of Seoul announced on the 8th that it has decided to cancel the vaccination of AstraZeneca vaccination by acting mayor Seo Jeong-hyup, which was scheduled for the coming 10th. Songpa-gu mayor Park Seong-su was also scheduled to receive the vaccination the day before, but the vaccination was canceled the same day following the decision of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. In addition, the mayors of Daegu, Busan, and Daejeon have ended their vaccination plans.

However, some argue that the heads of local governments should take the lead in getting the vaccine to get the effect of encouraging vaccination and resolving vague anxiety for the citizens.

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin, whose vaccination plan was canceled, posted a post on social media (SNS) on the 7th and said, “Showing citizens that I received the AstraZeneca vaccine after having gastric cancer surgery to increase the safety of vaccination and the vaccination rate is a little I thought it would be helpful,” he wrote, “Is it a privilege to get the AstraZeneca vaccine? Is it not more important to resolve public concerns and distrust about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine?”

He added, “The seeing is unbelievable,” he argued, saying, “It is a quick way to relieve public concern to show the public how the Prime Minister and other relevant ministers and mayoral governors have been directly vaccinated.”

Earlier, there was a rumor about the president’s’No. 1 vaccination’. When the opposition party insisted that the president should get the vaccine first in order to relieve the public’s anxiety about the AstraZeneca vaccine, he rebelled fiercely in his passport, saying, “Is the head of state the subject of the experiment? It is a mockery and contempt of the head of state.” Then there were criticisms such as “Is the people saying that they are the subject of experimentation?” and “Consider the dangers of vaccines”.

Meanwhile, in the first quarter, the priority targets for vaccination are nursing hospitals and facilities, workers in medical institutions with a hospital level or higher, and corona first responders. Up to now, 383,346 people, about half of the priority vaccination subjects (76,3891 people), have completed the first vaccination.