Gov't cartoon promoting COVID-19 vaccination for teens draws backlash

A cartoon on the Korean ministry of education's Facebook site features two students promising to get COVID-19 vaccine jabs and “eat tteokbokki together” at a snack bar. Screen capture from Facebook

By Ko Dong-hwan

A recent government campaign using a cartoon on a social network to promote COVID-19 vaccination for teenagers has drawn a backlash from some parents who criticized the message in the cartoon as inappropriate.

The cartoon, posted Jan. 7 on the Ministry of Education's Facebook page, features two female students who couldn't eat tteokbokki ― spicy simmered rice cake ― at a snack bar because the eatery refused to allow them to eat inside as they were unvaccinated so they ended up buying the food as a takeout. Their ensuing conversation shows they realize the necessity of getting the shots and they promise to get vaccinated to “eat tteokbokki together” there next time.

The message was clearly oriented toward teenagers many of whom are concerned with the risk side effects from the vaccine and have been delaying getting inoculated. Compared with other age groups in Korea, teenagers nationwide have the highest unvaccinated rate ― which has prompted the central government to persuade them to get the shots by all necessary means.

But the parents apparently found it disturbing that the government used food as a means to persuade the students to get vaccinated, with over 1,000 comments posted about the cartoon. Some of the comments read: “Tteokbokki shouldn't even be a matter to consider when students right now are at a critical crossroads over whether to get vaccinated or not,” “It is sad to watch the government using tteokbokki as bait to attract young students to get the vaccination,” and “I would rather like to see the government trying to appease us parents by saying hundreds of times they will make sure nothing happens to our kids. Instead, they come up with this sleazy idea of tteobokki.”

The cartoon informed teenagers that visiting restaurants, indoor gymnasiums, karaoke rooms, public bathhouses, theaters, PC rooms and large-scale supermarkets will legally require a vaccine pass on their smartphones from March this year. Teenagers, compared with older age groups, reported a lower number of cases of abnormal symptoms, such as anaphylaxis in the worst case scenario, following vaccination ― 300 cases for every 100,000.

As of Jan. 6, 76.2 percent of teenagers age 13 to 18 have had their first shot, and 54 percent their second, the cartoon revealed.