Joo Ho-young: "Government's 'Contradictory Attitude' on COVID-19 Vaccines... Safety Must Be Checked"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized the government on the 7th for preparing to start priority vaccination for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from the end of next month, saying, “They first said it was better to delay citing safety as an excuse because they couldn’t secure the vaccine, but now they are taking a contradictory stance by trying to give emergency approval to something that hasn’t even been properly authorized.”

At the emergency committee meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Floor Leader Joo said, “The government should not try to make up for its failure to secure vaccines early due to delayed response by rushing without ensuring safety,” and added, “We need to check whether a systematic and rational management system has been established for the distribution, storage, and delivery plans of vaccines that require cold chain maintenance.”

Floor Leader Joo emphasized, “If careless mistakes like the flu vaccine exposure to room temperature incident last fall are repeated, it will be difficult to gain public trust in the vaccine,” and urged, “Please thoroughly check the safety along with early vaccine procurement.”

Regarding the COVID-19 mass infection incident at Seoul Eastern Detention Center, Floor Leader Joo pointed out, “Our party’s fact-finding team visited the Eastern Detention Center to receive reports on the cause, current status, and countermeasures and asked questions, but they only came back thinking it was a serious problem,” and said, “When asked what to do if this situation repeats, they could not answer at all. I thought that even if it occurs in other detention centers, the same process would have to be followed.”

Floor Leader Joo stated, “Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and related parties are so busy trying to oust Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl that they have left things unattended, and it has come to this,” and urged, “The government should no longer rely on luck but listen to experts’ opinions once again and make thorough efforts to prevent similar incidents from recurring.”

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