Jung Eun-kyung: "Daily Vaccinations in July Possible at 1 to 1.5 Million"

Consideration of Using Self-Test Kits in Areas with Limited PCR Access

Jung Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, is reporting on work at the Health and Welfare Committee plenary meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 26th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Jeong Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, predicted that 1 million to 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccinations will be administered daily in July.

On the 26th, during a briefing to the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, Jeong responded "Yes" to a question from ruling and opposition party lawmakers asking whether it is possible for daily vaccinations to reach 1 million to 1.5 million in July.

Recently, the daily number of vaccinations has been around 120,000 to 130,000 excluding weekends, and on the 24th, it even exceeded 150,000.

Jeong stated, "From mid-next month, we plan to operate about 10,000 entrusted medical institutions and approximately 250 vaccination centers, so we expect the pace to accelerate. Since the vaccine supply will significantly increase from the third quarter, we plan to expand and carry out vaccinations in earnest."

Additionally, Jeong acknowledged the existence of cases where it is difficult to prove causality between vaccination and adverse reactions, referred to as the 'gray zone,' and mentioned improvements to the compensation system. Jeong said, "Based on global trends and our own investigations, we plan to continuously expand the scope of compensation. We will relax the compensation review criteria and improve the review process to expedite the timing of compensation."

Meanwhile, regarding the use of self-test kits under consideration for introduction, Jeong stated, "We are reviewing the use of self-test kits for screening purposes in areas with low accessibility to PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing, such as island or remote regions."

However, Jeong added, "Currently, clinical trials for self-test kits have only been conducted on symptomatic individuals, and approval has been granted for symptomatic use only. Since testing for asymptomatic individuals has not been validated, the government plans to support quality improvement efforts in the future."

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