Moon's plan for free COVID-19 vaccination questioned
People watch a TV screen showing President Moon Jae-in's New Year's address at Seoul Station, Monday. Yonhap
By Jung Da-min
President Moon Jae-in's plan to provide free public vaccinations for COVID-19 has brought controversy over how the government could secure the related funding.
Delivering his New Year address from Cheong Wa Dae, Monday, Moon said the government will make sure that all the people will be vaccinated free of charge in accordance with priorities, with the inoculations set to begin as early as next month.
The plan may have been announced to regain support following earlier public criticism of the government, with some claiming that Korea was lagging behind other nations in securing vaccines as it was too focused on promoting its disease control responses.
Although this announcement will please some members of the public who are in full support of a free vaccination program, some observers have expressed concern over the country's financial soundness.
Estimations suggest the government would need to spend at least 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion), including 2 trillion won for vaccine purchases and another 2 trillion won for costs related to the inoculation process, when calculating based on a 19,219 won inoculation cost for each influenza vaccination.
According to the government, it has so far secured purchase agreements for COVID-19 vaccines for 56 million people with Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Pfizer and the COVAX ― a cooperative body among governments, the private sector, health organizations, manufacturers, scientists and civic groups to promote access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jung Eun-kyeong said last week that the KDCA will announce specific plans for vaccinations by the end of this month, about a month later than its initial timetable. Policy watchers said such a delay may be due to the government's consideration of how it will secure the necessary budget.
The administration secured 1.3 trillion won for purchasing vaccines for 44 million people from its annual budget for this year, and is planning to use reserve expenses to buy the rest for 12 million people.
The reserve fund for this year was 7 trillion won, but the government has already spent 4.8 trillion won to provide a third round of disaster relief payments for small business owners hit hard by economic stagnation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The remaining reserves are about 3.8 trillion won but economic watchers say the government may not be able to use it for the vaccine program as it may need to spend some of it in the future to respond to disasters such as typhoons and heavy rains that typically occur in the second half of the year.