President Moon Jae-in boasted at a senior and aides meeting on the 2nd that “Korea has the lowest fatality rate in the world.” The fatality rate of COVID-19 in South Korea is 2.13%. However, 200,000 people in Korea were infected with Corona 19, and 2104 people were killed by the 3rd. [청와대 제공]
Two people infected with the ‘Delta Plus’ mutant virus of Corona 19 were confirmed for the first time in Korea, and breakthrough infections among those who were vaccinated are also spreading. As major advanced countries have started booster shots (additional inoculation) in preparation for the inculturation of COVID-19, Korea is also struggling to secure a vaccine to be used after next year. However, since the Moon Jae-in administration secured 20 million vaccines from Pfizer in April, it has not succeeded in signing a contract to introduce additional vaccines for the past 100 days. I would like to ask you what lessons have you learned from the failure of your vaccine introduction strategy last year?
There is no additional contract for vaccines for more than 100 days.
Focus on the purchase negotiations rather than ‘K-vaccine Taryeong’
Delta Plus is a ‘variant of the delta mutation’, and it is estimated that the transmission power is stronger than the delta mutation and the vaccine effect is lower, but there is no accurate information on the risk and transmission power. Quarantine experts emphasize boosting vaccination while ordering stronger quarantine. Even if you get the vaccine, the antibody is only maintained for about 6 months, so it means that additional vaccinations are necessary even after next year.
In fact, major advanced countries are eager to secure additional vaccines and boost shots. France started to vaccinate applicants with the third dose since last month, and Israel has been vaccinating all adults starting this month. The UK will start a third dose of 30 million people starting next month, and Japan is also expected to start a third dose from next year.
On the other hand, Korea does not show any efforts to secure additional vaccines in preparation for the inculturation of COVID-19. The rate of completion of the second vaccination is only 13.9% of the total population, so the rate of vaccination is slow, ranking 104th in the world. This is because there has been a supply and demand disruption that prevented the secured vaccine from arriving in time. The booster shot is hit with the 100 million people already secured, but there is no news of securing additional vaccine supplies for next year. I hear only the words “in the early stages of negotiations with foreign pharmaceutical companies”. Pfizer and Moderna have significantly increased the price of vaccines amid fierce competition to secure additional vaccines, so now is not the time for the government to relax.
A government official said, “Vaccines are limited and there are many countries that want to buy them, so (Korea) is inferior in comparison in negotiations. However, it seems unrealistic from the idea that K-vaccine development can be successful by providing small amounts of money to several companies.
President Moon expressed concern at the Blue House senior and aides meeting the day before, saying, “I thought a vaccine would be the solution, but a different aspect than expected is emerging.” But now is not the time to blame the efficacy of vaccines. We need to put our best efforts into preemptively securing the amount of vaccines to be used next year.
President Moon boasted that “Korea has the lowest fatality rate in the world.” In Korea, 200,000 people were infected and 2104 people died, so is it time to brag about the low fatality rate (2.13%)? We should not overlook the suffering of the people due to the failure of the vaccine strategy and should immediately start securing additional vaccines. 
