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| Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, gives a briefing on the nation's comprehensive plan to vaccinate the whole population, at the agency's office in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Thursday. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
The government plans to vaccinate undocumented foreigners against COVID-19 free of charge, if necessary, according to the health authorities.
The number of foreign nationals staying illegally in Korea is estimated to have risen to about 400,000 due to the pandemic-imposed travel restrictions.
"Foreign nationals will get shots for COVID-19 in the same order as Koreans. As for undocumented migrants, we plan to inoculate them if it is deemed necessary after reviewing their influence on public health and high-risk patients, as well as the spread of the virus," Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said, Thursday.
She also said that the order in which foreign residents will be administered the vaccine will be decided based on the same standards applied to Korean citizens.
"Infectious diseases, unlike other chronic illnesses, cannot be considered the patients' own problem, as people can transmit these diseases to others. In that respect, undocumented foreign nationals who contract COVID-19 and avoid reporting it to health authorities due to their legal status, could expose Korean citizens to the risk of infection," Jeong said.
Starting next month Korea will be administering COVID-19 vaccinations for free, aiming to get 70 percent of the population inoculated by September in the hope the country will be able to achieve herd immunity by November.
Also, all foreign nationals staying here illegally are allowed to take coronavirus tests free of charge without disclosing their identities, according to the Ministry of Justice.
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