Five Heads of Health Organizations Publicly Receive AZ Vaccine...Encouraging Participation in Vaccination

Participation of Hospital, Dental, Oriental Medicine, Pharmacist, and Nursing Associations

On the afternoon of the 15th, medical staff demonstrated the preparation of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine at the COVID-19 vaccination center set up in the auditorium of Seongdong-gu Office in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The heads of five major health and medical organizations, including the Korea Hospital Association, the Korean Dental Association, the Korean Oriental Medicine Association, the Korean Pharmaceutical Association, and the Korean Nurses Association, will receive the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 2nd at 9:20 a.m. at the Mapo-gu Public Health Center in Seoul that the heads of major health and medical organizations gathered and received the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccination targets were four heads of the respective organizations, excluding the Korea Hospital Association president who had already been vaccinated, and five deputy heads. This vaccination was conducted to increase public trust in the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and to promote participation in vaccination through the public vaccination of organization heads who are also health and medical experts.

This decision follows the deliberation by the Vaccination Expert Committee, which allows the Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency to selectively determine vaccination targets considering factors such as improving vaccination rates, enhancing public trust, and the necessity of quarantine measures.

On the day, Lee Ki-il, the General Director (Director of Health and Medical Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare), also received the vaccination together at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. Director Kwon Deok-cheol had previously received the AstraZeneca vaccine on the 26th along with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun. After vaccination, the General Director said, “I would like to once again thank the heads of health and medical organizations who willingly participated in this public vaccination. I hope the public will feel reassured and actively participate in COVID-19 vaccination.”

Before the vaccination, Director Kwon held a meeting with the heads of health and medical organizations to discuss the safe and prompt promotion of COVID-19 vaccination. This meeting was arranged to share the government’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccine supply and vaccination status and to listen to opinions from the health and medical sectors and seek their cooperation.

Director Kwon said, “I appreciate the dedication and hard work shown by the health and medical sectors during the past year of responding to COVID-19,” and added, “For the vaccine to be a turning point in ending COVID-19, vaccination must be carried out safely and swiftly. As vaccination will expand further in the second quarter of this year, I ask for the active cooperation of the health and medical sectors to ensure smooth vaccination.”

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