Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Public skeptical of November herd immunity goal
Elderly citizens aged 75 or older receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at an inoculation center in Daegu, Friday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea approves self-testing kits
By Bahk Eun-ji
A majority of Koreans are skeptical of the government's plan to achieve COVID-19 herd immunity by November through vaccination, a survey showed, Friday.
The negative prediction mainly stems from the fact that Korea is struggling to secure vaccines amid a worldwide supply shortage, coupled with growing concerns over the possible side effects of the vaccines, such as blood clots.
In the survey of 1,009 citizens jointly conducted by four pollsters from Monday to Wednesday, 69 percent of the respondents said they don't think the government's plan to achieve herd immunity by November was feasible, while only 24 percent said they thought it would be possible.
Although more than 2 million people have received COVID-19 vaccine shots at least once since inoculations began on Feb. 26, the inoculation rate still falls short of the government's initial plan.
The country has signed contracts with foreign pharmaceutical firms for doses for 79 million people, but only about 2 million have been imported so far, with the exact supply schedule for some products still remaining undecided.
Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Tuesday that Korea was seeking a “vaccine swap” with the United States. However, U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday (local time) that the U.S. wants to share the COVID-19 vaccine with other countries, but will not begin sending vaccines abroad until it has a sufficient supply at home.
“We're looking at what is going to be done with some of the vaccines that we are not using. We're going to make sure they are safe to be sent,” Biden said at the White House.
A medical worker performs a test at a COVID-19 testing station in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Regarding the government's efforts to secure additional supplies, experts said that even if the contract for additional supplies is successful, what is important is when the vaccine shipments actually arrive, saying that the government should bring them in as soon as possible, even if it has to pay more.
In fact, the EU is in a tug-of-war with Pfizer over the price of additional supplies.
Pfizer said that it will raise the price for the EU to 19.5 euros per dose next year from the current 12 euros.
Experts say that even if Korea has to pay more, it will be more beneficial because achieving herd immunity with vaccines as soon as possible will help revive the economy.
“The EU is trying to make the deal even at a high price, because the economic effect is greater compared to the vaccine cost,” said Chon Eun-mi, a professor in the Department of Pulmonology at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital. “Even if we pay three or four times more, we still have to get the mRNA vaccine,” she said.
Even if sufficient vaccine supplies are secured, another factor preventing active participation in the inoculation program is increasing concern over safety following a series of adverse reactions being reported, including some severe ones.
Recently, a 45-year-old nursing assistant was hospitalized with a serious neurological disorder after receiving the AstraZeneca shot. Her husband posted a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website calling for better compensation, and wrote, “It would have been better not to have received the vaccine and to have gotten infected with the coronavirus instead.”
In Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, a civil servant had a severe headache and numbness in his arms and legs for about three weeks after getting an AstraZeneca jab. He was later diagnosed with a cerebral hemorrhage.
Both people had no specific health problems before the vaccination. The health authorities are looking into their cases.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety conditionally approved two types of COVID-19 self-testing kits, Friday.
The products are STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Home Test by SD BioSensor and Humasis COVID-19 Ag Home Test by Humasis.
Under the conditional authorization, the two products can be used temporarily in Korea until products with final approval are released. The companies are required to submit additional clinical test data within three months.
Health authorities stated that the self-testing kits should only be used as supplementary tools, as their accuracy is lower than preemptive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.