Authorities: "Mandatory Vaccination Not Considered for Unscheduled Vaccine Recipients"

On the 16th, as 70% of the population is about to achieve the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, citizens who visited the vaccination center set up at Dongdaemun-gu Gymnasium in Seoul are being observed for adverse reactions after completing their vaccinations. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The quarantine authorities have once again confirmed their stance that they are not considering mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for those who have not yet received the vaccine.

On the morning of the 16th, Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, stated during the COVID-19 vaccine briefing, "As I have mentioned several times, we are currently not considering mandatory vaccination," adding, "To enforce mandatory vaccination, a revision of the law would be necessary, but considering the current system and the relatively high vaccination willingness rate, we are not reviewing this at the moment." He further emphasized, "Rather, we should focus on ensuring that those who wish to be vaccinated can receive their shots smoothly."

As of yesterday, among the 13,635,189 eligible general public aged 18 to 49 currently undergoing vaccination, only 9,921,348 have made vaccination reservations. This corresponds to a vaccination reservation rate of 72.8%, leaving 3,713,841 people who have not yet made reservations.

Regarding those who have not applied for vaccination, Son explained, "Instead of mandatory enforcement, we will continue campaigns, promotions, incentives such as easing quarantine measures centered on those who have completed vaccination, and provide ongoing information about the effectiveness and efficacy of vaccination." He added, "The current policy is to increase vaccination rates by strengthening the management of side effects and adverse reactions to build trust."

As of yesterday, including priority vaccination groups, local government autonomous vaccinations, and leftover vaccine vaccinations, among the 22,415,616 people aged 18 to 49, 14,618,010 (65.2%) have received their first dose, and 6,182,587 (27.6%) have completed vaccination.

Son urged, "Reservations for COVID-19 vaccination for those aged 18 to 49 are available until 6 p.m. on the 18th. Since there are still about two days left, we ask those aged 18 to 49 who have not yet made a reservation to please do so."

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