A Month Ago "Vaccine Companies Lined Up"... Minister Park's Complacency and Prime Minister Jeong's Damage Control

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is delivering opening remarks at the 'Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters Meeting on COVID-19' held at Seoul City Hall on the 21st. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] "(Pfizer and Moderna) Contrary to general expectations, those companies are actually the ones urging us to finalize contracts quickly." (Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, November 17)

"Contracts with Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen are imminent, but there is no promise of supply in the first quarter." (Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, December 20)

As demands for COVID-19 vaccination rapidly increased due to the third wave of the novel coronavirus infection, the government abruptly reversed its stance on vaccine supply within a month. On the 20th, Prime Minister Chung appeared on KBS1 TV's 'Sunday Diagnosis Live' and stated, "Apart from the UK AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, for which a pre-purchase contract has been completed, it will be difficult to administer vaccines from the US companies Pfizer, Janssen, and Moderna in the first quarter of next year."

Prime Minister Chung admitted belatedly, "When the government began vaccine purchase negotiations in July, there were about 100 confirmed domestic cases, so there was a perspective of not increasing reliance on vaccines." As COVID-19 cases surged to record highs, demands for vaccination intensified, causing the government's attitude to change drastically within a month.

Minister Park responded on November 17, just a month ago, at the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee plenary session to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Mi-ae's call to "hasten vaccine procurement," saying, "We are conducting various bargaining efforts to secure a reasonable price without appearing impatient." Regarding vaccine development by US pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, he even showed a relaxed attitude, stating, "They are the ones urging us to finalize contracts quickly," and "We are in a favorable position regarding vaccine procurement."

On November 17, when Minister Park made these remarks, the total number of new confirmed cases was 230. It was ten days after social distancing was eased to a five-level system on November 7, and although cases in the metropolitan area were on the rise, the distancing level was still at level 1. At that time, the quarantine authorities maintained the position that "negotiations with global pharmaceutical companies are underway, and vaccine introduction is proceeding smoothly."

However, with the recent surge in confirmed cases exceeding 1,000, medical resources reaching their limits, and vaccine rollouts beginning worldwide in countries such as the US and UK, the atmosphere became urgent. On December 8, the government secured 44 million doses of overseas COVID vaccines, but as of this date, no pre-purchase contracts other than the 10 million doses with AstraZeneca have been completed. The AstraZeneca vaccine is also scheduled to be introduced sequentially, not all at once in February to March next year, so it is likely to take more time before actual public vaccination.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.