[The Editors' Verdict] The World Divided by Vaccine Rollouts

The year 2020 was a year in which the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) sucked in all global issues like a black hole. There was no country free from COVID-19. Everyone, without exception, endured a painful year.

What about 2021? Although the new year has dawned, countries around the world still have not escaped from COVID-19. What was expected to end within half a year has dragged humanity into suffering for over a year. There is even an anxious forecast that COVID-19 might not end until the year is over. The resurgence of COVID-19 is also serious. The UK has imposed a third lockdown, and Japan is planning to implement emergency measures.

However, the situation is not entirely bleak. With vaccines developed and distributed earlier than expected, there is growing hope for the end of COVID-19. At the end of last year, the United States and European Union (EU) countries began administering Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Singapore became the first in Asia to start Pfizer vaccinations. Cautiously, people have even said, "We can see the end of the tunnel."

What will the world look like after COVID-19 ends? Many experts predict that the world will be different before and after COVID-19. One of these differences will likely be the geopolitical dynamics of countries. The speed of development between countries that successfully overcame COVID-19 and those that did not will sharply diverge over the next few years. While everyone struggled last year, from this year onward, the fortunes of countries may differ.

Then, what about us? We proudly claim that we have excellently overcome COVID-19 with K-quarantine measures. However, the countries internationally recognized for their success are Taiwan, Vietnam, and New Zealand. Recently, the British economic magazine The Economist named Taiwan and New Zealand as countries that managed COVID-19 well. Taiwan had only seven COVID-19 deaths due to early strong control and effective quarantine measures and achieved economic growth last year. New Zealand declared the end of COVID-19 in June last year, the first in the world to do so. China, which curbed the spread of COVID-19 with strong control last year, is also forecasted to surpass the United States to become the world's largest economy by 2028.

What about the United States, where daily confirmed cases pour in? Although the US did not respond properly to COVID-19, it is at least highly evaluated for being the first in the world to develop a vaccine and quickly administer it. Recently, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) surveyed economists, and based on vaccine effectiveness, the US economy is expected to improve from the second quarter.

The reason countries worldwide are eager to secure vaccines is that the speed of economic recovery depends on how quickly vaccinations are carried out. On the 4th, the Bank of Korea named "commercialization of COVID-19 vaccines" as the first of seven major issues that will determine the direction of the global economy this year in its Overseas Economic Focus. It predicted that economic recovery trends will vary among countries depending on the timing of vaccine distribution and fiscal capacity. The speed of vaccine distribution will be a crucial variable determining the timing of economic recovery by country. There are also concerns that underdeveloped countries that fail to secure vaccines properly may fall further behind as the end of COVID-19 is delayed.

In this regard, South Korea's delayed efforts to secure vaccines cannot be considered anything but a serious mistake. The government implemented four supplementary budgets last year to respond to COVID-19. Despite concerns about fiscal soundness, it pursued an unprecedented expansionary fiscal policy, but showed a passive stance in securing the most important COVID-19 vaccines. For citizens who have endured and been patient every time social distancing levels were raised due to the resurgence of COVID-19, hearing recent news of vaccine rollouts in other countries abroad brings a sense of emptiness that cannot be hidden.

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