Criticism is spreading that the introduction of the Corona 19 vaccine is being delayed due to the government’s practice, but criticism is raised that the government is still making a lot of comments that show a perception that is far from reality. It seems that the controversy is growing by proposing that it is not necessary to get the vaccine quickly. On the 23rd, Son Young-rae, head of the Strategic Planning Division of the Central Accident Control Headquarters, presented at a briefing at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for Corona 19 that there is no reason to bear the side effects of vaccines in advance as the number of domestic deaths is far smaller than in the United States and the United Kingdom. “In the United States, 330,000 patients died, and about 67,000 people died in the United Kingdom,” said Son. “These countries have virtually no quarantine strategies that can be adopted except for vaccines. “We started developing and vaccinating vaccines.” These government remarks are far from the public sentiment. According to the Real Meter poll released on the same day (for 500 people aged 18 or older nationwide), about 6 out of 10 citizens placed emphasis on urgency over the safety of vaccines.
In particular, it is pointed out that it is irresponsible for the quarantine authorities to make excuses such as,’It is fortunate that we have the opportunity to observe side effects that may occur in other countries’ in the situation that the government failed to secure the vaccine early due to the uneasy response of the government. At least 30 countries begin vaccination within this year, and short-term safety will be confirmed in January of next year, but there are no domestic vaccines available at this time. According to the government’s plan, the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is currently the only confirmed purchase contract, will enter Korea only between February and March next year. Even this, it was found that not all of the 10 million contracted people were inflow, but sequentially. It means that the first volume may be only a small fraction of the contract volume.
It is the opinion of medical experts that the government overlooked the importance of rapid vaccine introduction because the number of confirmed cases in Korea was small when the vaccine introduction discussion began. In the beginning, the national vaccine budget for the entire Corona 19 was not separately formulated in the 2021 budget under the jurisdiction of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but about 900 billion won was newly reflected according to the opposition party’s argument during the National Assembly budget review process.
A government official said, “At the time, there was a lot of confidence in K quarantine, and there was a point where we could not make a quick judgment about the vaccine because we did not expect that the third epidemic would catch fire.” “There is no reason to take the risk of an unsuccessful vaccine.”
Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo said at the National Assembly on the 17th of last month, “Contrary to general expectations, even in Pfizer and Modena, they are urging to sign a contract with us as soon as possible.” “I’m doing it,” he said. This is the background of the analysis that the government at the time was trying to tug off excessively to cut the vaccine price and missed the opportunity for early introduction.
As criticism about the practice of introducing a vaccine grew, the Blue House announced on the 22nd that President Moon Jae-in had ordered the securing of the vaccine from April. Meanwhile, on April 9, President Moon visited the Institut Pasteur Korea in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, and revealed that he said, “I will definitely help develop treatments and vaccines.” However, at that time, President Moon emphasized the development of domestic vaccines and did not say that he would secure overseas vaccines. President Moon ordered a sufficient amount of vaccine to be secured through Cobax Facility or a global pharmaceutical company only on September 15th.
There is also an atmosphere in which the arrow of responsibility is turned to the director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), who has been selected as the leading role in K quarantine over the misjudgment of the vaccine in the passport. The Blue House’s explanation that President Moon’s order to secure a vaccine has been issued from April means that the delay in securing the vaccine was not attributable to the Blue House, but due to the passive administration of the KCDC. In line with this trend, the government emphasized that the final decision maker for vaccine purchase was Chief Chung. It is different from the fact that the Blue House and the government have been self-appointing the Corona 19 Control Tower.
On the day, Mr. Son emphasized, “According to the current infectious disease prevention method, the director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is responsible for the decision to purchase a vaccine and measures for the contract procedure.” It is the same as asserting that the decision to purchase a vaccine lies with the KCDC and the government only plays a supporting role. However, it is pointed out that it is unreasonable to blame the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the absence of regulations on pre-purchase of vaccines, which amount to trillions. Lee Jae-gap, professor of infectious medicine at Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University, criticized, “To purchase vaccines in advance, a huge amount of money has to be paid. .
Regarding the criticism that the government took action to secure vaccines only in November, the government formed a “vaccine introduction task force (TF)” in June to negotiate with individual companies such as AstraZeneca from July, and conducted negotiations with AstraZeneca on July 21 Japan and Nova Bax explained that they had signed a letter of intent to purchase on August 13th.
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