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While advanced countries like the UK, US and Canada are joining the ranks of vaccinating countries for the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19), Korea is having a vaccine-free winter.
When I tracked down the motif of ‘vaccine underdeveloped countries’
According to the document “ International Trends in Vaccine Procurement by Overseas Countries ” of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, obtained by Representative Kang Ki-yoon of the Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly, the maximum amount is 2.4 billion in the United States, 190 million in Canada and 380 million in the United Kingdom. The EU has secured a maximum of 1.1 billion times and Japan 530 million times. In Korea, a contract for 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine was completed. Also, as the national vaccine introduction period is expected to be from February to March next year, there is growing concern about the “vaccine split.” We followed up on how Korea, which has attracted attention as an advanced country for COVID-19 quarantine, has lagged behind in the vaccine introduction competition.
“Jung Eun-kyung goes to jail for risky pre-shopping like in the United States”
According to quarantine authorities, it was last July that the Korean government began negotiating a full-fledged vaccine purchase. Prior to that, the review started in May, but no progress was made. Ma Sang-hyuk, Vice President of the Korean Vaccine Society (Professor of Pediatrics Changwon Fatima), said: “In May, we created and operated a working group (TF) in Korea on vaccines. But at this time, there were not many cases of patients, so there was a side that responded passively and was excluded from the budget ”.
AstraZeneca (July), Novavex (August) and a letter of intent were prepared, respectively, and discussions with Modena (August), Pfizer (September) and Janssen (October) started in order. . Although the US and Canada were rampaging with vaccines that outnumbered the population, the Korean government was hesitant to buy ahead of time. As a result, vaccination has started in other countries, and only one AstraZeneca vaccine (for 10 million doses) has been successfully signed in Korea. The government is moving forward, signing a contract with Pfizer and Janssen this month and with Modena in January. The AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be introduced in February-March, but there is no promise of when the remaining vaccines will be delivered.
An official who participated in the discussion on the introduction of the vaccine explained that the reason Korea is lagging behind is largely due to the Boshinism of government officials, who feared post-mortem liability. He said: “Because there are various uncertainties, such as price and clinical success, the government seems to have stepped up (negotiated),” he said. “We have been looking for ways to minimize the risks.” The United States took risks and gave Modena 1.2 trillion of R&D funds and previously bought 300 million doses. “He said:” If we did that, we would have had to go to prison, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jeong Eun-kyung. It is not a country that has enough money and it is not easy to do it like the United States and the United Kingdom. ”The government could not act actively because it is a situation where someone who led the negotiations is held accountable if something goes wrong after purchasing a vaccine.
At a plenary meeting of the Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly on 26 last month, Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo said: “From a really administrative point of view, there is the problem of having to discard the vaccine. in a few months when over-storage of the vaccine occurs. “There is,” he said directly. He added: “There are age groups in the world that reject vaccines, and most of them are young,” he added. “Even if we have 50 million copies of the COVID-19 vaccine, there will surely be a lot of people who really don’t fit in.” .
Park Neung-hoo said: “The situation where Pfizer and Modena want to sign a contract quickly”
A vaccine advance purchase contract is not an easy task. Considering the success or safety of vaccines, there are too many factors that the government should consider. Experts note that the government was nevertheless practical. Jae-wook Choi, professor of preventive medicine at Korea University, said: “Vaccines are the only thing that changes the rules of the game (a factor that changes the rules of the game)” and said: “Everything will be normalized if we form immunity collective and finish with the crown as soon as possible. Professor Choi said: “This is why many countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, fought vaccine wars on the pre-order method from last March to April. It should have been aggressively secured in various places, but vaccinations should have been done carefully instead, “he noted. He added: “Since there is a problem with security, I thought it would be okay to secure it slowly,” he added.
Consider the changes in Minister Park Neung-hoo’s comments. On the 17th of last month, in a plenary meeting of the Welfare Committee of the National Assembly, Minister Park said: “We are negotiating various quantities and prices through contact with individual companies,” in response to an order from Representative Kim Mi -ae, the power of the people, of “please hurry to get the Corona 19 vaccine”. Regarding the Pfizer and Modena vaccines, he said: “Contrary to general expectations, the two companies are rushing to sign a contract with us as soon as possible. That is why I will tell you that we are in an unfavorable condition for obtaining vaccines ”.
Their confidence statements changed dramatically when the government released its vaccine supply plan on 8 this month. Minister Park said: “It is difficult to reject unfair contracts because the supply of Corona 19 vaccine is in short supply around the world.” The explanation was that even if the vaccine manufacturers requested the exemption from side effects, they had no choice but to accept it.
As the Korean government lags behind in vaccine buying competition, people are facing a winter without vaccines. Contrary to what the government says, safety ‘will be included in the vaccine as a top priority, as a result, the vaccine is the least effective (average 70%), and because it has not been approved for use abroad , only incomplete AstraZeneca vaccine is available.
Representative Kang Ki-yoon said: “As the government promotes K quarantine on a large scale, we are only monitoring the procurement of vaccines from foreign countries to ensure vaccines in our country, but we are responding to procrastination,” he noted. .
Reporter Esther and Hwang Soo-yeon [email protected]
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