Feared vaccination delay

More efforts needed to contain COVID-19

South Korea is likely to suffer setbacks in its vaccination drive against COVID-19 with concerns growing that the country may not secure a sufficient supply due to reported side effects in vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. More worrisome is that Korea appears to be facing a new wave of infections this spring.

As things currently stand, the Moon Jae-in administration will find it difficult, if not impossible, to complete its planned vaccination program to attain herd immunity by November. Health officials continue to argue that there has been no change in the program, despite emerging concerns of side effects and a feared delay in the production and distribution of vaccines. They need to see the stark reality as it is in order to take timely and appropriate measures.

The public’s worries are running high after the U.S. health authorities recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, citing the risk of rare blood clots. Six women developed the clots after having the vaccine shot there, and one has died. The U.S. has yet to make a final decision on whether to halt the use of the single-dose vaccine.

The pause came after a similar blood clotting side effect occurred in Europe and other parts of the world with the vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca. A growing number of European and other countries have banned or restricted the use of this vaccine. Here in Korea, the health authorities have prohibited those aged below 30 from getting the vaccine after clots were found in three recipients, with two of them in their 20s. The country had earlier allowed the use of the vaccine for people under 60.

It is inevitable to see a delay in inoculation because of the lack of a vaccine supply. South Korea plans to secure vaccines for 79 million people this year, far more than the country’s 51 million population. It has already signed contracts with global pharmaceutical firms to purchase vaccines for 9 million people in the first half of the year. Fifty-nine percent of the purchases are supposed to come from AstraZeneca. However, it is uncertain if the company will be able to supply the vaccines to Korea as scheduled due to the side-effect problem.

The same might go for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Moon administration has pre-ordered the company’s vaccine for 6 million people. But the blood clotting problem could delay the purchase. Some experts are also skeptical about the government’s plan to secure vaccines for 20 million people each from Moderna and Novavax.

Moderna said that it will supply its vaccines to the U.S. government first — 100 million doses in May and another 100 million doses in July. Other countries such as Korea could get the Moderna vaccine three months after this. Novavax has yet to get approval for emergency use from any country.

Against this backdrop, Korea should make all-out efforts to avoid any delay in the procurement of vaccines. If it cannot do that, the government must work out bolder measures to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. Most of all, the authorities must strive to keep a coherent policy and maintain public trust in the fight against COVID-19.