Gominjeong: "Australia and Taiwan Don't Get Vaccinated Even with Vaccines... Is This 'True Expertise'?"

Photo by Go Min-jung, captured from the Facebook post of the Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] On the 11th, Go Min-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated that countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan, despite securing COVID-19 vaccines, are not immediately vaccinating their citizens. She argued, "A true medical expert is someone who prescribes treatment considering the patient's condition and surrounding environment."

On the same day, Go shared an article titled "Why Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan Are Not Vaccinating Despite Securing COVID Vaccines" on her Facebook, making this claim. She added, "The People Power Party should stop the political strife surrounding COVID-19 now," and urged, "Please gather wisdom to recover the struggling economy and lead South Korea to become a leading nation."

The article Go shared cited the British daily newspaper The Guardian, reporting that Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan are postponing vaccinations. According to The Guardian, the reason these countries delay vaccination is to "verify side effects through valuable data provided by countries that vaccinated their citizens earlier."

Some netizens have criticized Go's claim. They argue that although Australia and Taiwan have secured enough vaccines for their entire populations, South Korea has insufficient vaccine supplies and is struggling with COVID-19 prevention, unlike these countries. Therefore, it is difficult to compare vaccination statuses with those countries.

According to the statistics site Worldometer, as of this day (based on GMT), the number of new COVID-19 cases was 19 in Australia, 3 in New Zealand, and 6 in Taiwan. On the same day, South Korea reported 451 new cases and 15 new deaths.

Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in stated in his New Year's address that "vaccinations could begin next month." Previously, the government announced that it had secured 56 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from global pharmaceutical companies.

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