KMA: "Reservation for leftover vaccines should postpone 'online unification'... Increasing confusion in medical institutions"

"SNS Reservation Method Favors Young People... Vaccine Waste May Increase"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The Korean Medical Association (KMA) expressed concerns over the government's decision to unify the reservation method for leftover COVID-19 vaccines for those under 60 years old through social networking services (SNS) such as Naver and Kakao apps, stating that it has intensified confusion.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team announced on the 4th that when leftover vaccines occur, reservations for those under 60 will be primarily made through SNS, while those aged 60 and above can still use the existing phone reservation methods.

The KMA stated, "Vaccination requires careful preliminary examination of patients as an essential condition," adding, "The existing phone reservation method is mainly conducted for regular patients near medical institutions, so it has the positive function of allowing more meticulous preliminary examinations compared to the SNS-only reservation method."

They also pointed out, "The SNS-only reservation method favors younger people, which does not align with the government's intention to reduce mortality by increasing vaccination rates among the elderly, and it may also cause issues of fairness. For vaccination, patients must arrive at the medical institution by 5 p.m. at the latest, but the SNS method tends to have more long-distance patients than the phone reservation method, which can fundamentally lead to situations where vaccination is impossible, potentially increasing vaccine wastage."

The KMA emphasized, "The SNS-only reservation method notifies only those who applied around 4 to 5 p.m. via SNS, so patients who are not notified have no choice but to call the medical institution to confirm their reservation," adding, "This inevitably increases administrative workload at medical institutions due to phone call surges."

The KMA raised their voice, stating, "If the government unifies the reservation method solely through SNS, confusion at vaccination medical institutions and the resulting inconvenience to the public will be unavoidable." They further argued, "The unification of vaccine reservation methods solely through SNS, which can cause confusion at medical institutions and inconvenience to the public, must be pursued very cautiously and should be put on hold until a more reasonable alternative is prepared."

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