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.
Stigmatized as virus spreaders, people in their 20s, 30s unhappy with government's vaccination drive
A street near Hongik University, Mapo District, one of Seoul's busiest nightlife areas, is crowded with people in this July 6 photo. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
People in their 20s and 30s are complaining of being stigmatized as the main culprits of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the number of infections among people in this age group is significantly higher compared to during previous waves.
Many young people point out that the government is trying to leave the responsibility for controlling the fourth wave to them while they have been pushed to the back of the line in the country's vaccination plans.
In recent weeks, public health authorities have urged people in their 20s and 30s to abide by the social distancing guidelines, all the while suggesting that they are the most responsible for the spreading of the virus.
In Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area, the number of infections per 100,000 people grew from 1.3 in the third week of June to 3.1 in the first week of July. But the increase rate was higher among people in their 20s, from 1.6 to 5.2 during the same period.
“The country's virus containment measures are now facing another critical crisis. The situation in the Seoul metropolitan area is particularly serious, so we urge people in their 20s and 30s in the metropolitan area, who hold the key to the containment measures working, to be more patient,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said in a press briefing on July 8.
In response, young people have said that they are unable to understand the government's message because they are the last group planned to be vaccinated according to the government's vaccination schedule, and thus have lower vaccination rates than other age groups, making them more vulnerable to infection.
Lee Ye-na, a 25-year-old graduate school student in Seoul, said that she has been anxiously trying to sign up for leftover vaccine doses since last month but to no avail.
“I feel uncomfortable that we didn't get the vaccine unlike other age groups. I understand that elderly people had to receive the shots because they are more vulnerable, but it's so unfair for the government and the media to say that our generation is the most responsible for this fourth wave of the pandemic,” Lee said.
“If the vaccines had been promptly supplied and we had already been inoculated, the situation wouldn't be this bad.”
People stand in line to take coronavirus tests at a screening center in Seoul Plaza, Thursday. Yonhap
A 26-year-old office worker in Gangdong District in Seoul, who wished to be identified only by her surname Hong, also said, “Women in their 20s have been completely marginalized (in the government's vaccination schedule), while many young men received Janssen vaccine shots last month.”
In June, 800,000 reservists and civilians affiliated with the defense and foreign affairs ministries received Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine, provided by the U.S.
“This fourth wave is not due to people in a certain age group, but rather due to the government's hasty policy of having eased the social distancing rules too early,” Hong said.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), those in their 20s accounted for 25 percent of all confirmed cases during the first week of July, but the vaccination rate of the age group stood at 11.6 percent during the same period, the lowest among all age groups.
Most young people do not fall into the vulnerable category ― which has been eligible to receive vaccine shots since February ― unless they are social workers, teachers or workers at high-risk facilities.
On the other hand, 88.3 percent of people in their 70s, 84.5 percent of those in their 60s and 79.6 percent of people in their 80s have been inoculated with at least a first dose as of July 12.
Vaccinations for people aged 18-49 are scheduled to start in August, but no specific schedule has been released, so young people are unable to predict when they will be able to get the vaccine.
Another issue young people are complaining about is the disaster relief fund that the government is pushing for.
While the government is discussing cash handouts to the lower 80 percent of people according to income group, it is predicted that most single-person households in their 20s and 30s will not be able to receive the benefits.
According to Statistics Korea, the average monthly income of a single-person household under the age of 40 was 3.5 million won ($3,050) in the first quarter of this year. This average monthly income is just over the government's limit for the disaster relief fund, with is 3.29 million won ($2,881), the average monthly income for the bottom 80 percent of single-person households.