Army Deputy Chief of Staff Commands 'Transport Operation' of COVID-19 Vaccines from Airport to Hospital

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The military will take full responsibility for the distribution and transportation of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines entering the country starting next month.

On the 21st, the Ministry of National Defense announced in a New Year work report submitted to the Blue House that it will establish and operate the "COVID-19 Vaccine Transportation Support Headquarters" (hereafter Support Headquarters) under the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team (hereafter Promotion Team) of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

The Support Headquarters will be led by Lieutenant General Park Ju-kyung, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, and will consist of a total of 41 personnel including 34 military personnel, 4 government officials, 2 police officers, and 1 firefighter, mainly experts in related fields. General Park also serves as the co-deputy head of the Promotion Team. In addition, the Ministry of National Defense plans to organize additional support task forces composed of 57 units and 528 personnel at various levels to assist the Support Headquarters.

The Support Headquarters will oversee the entire distribution and transportation process from the factory and airport to storage locations and vaccination institutions. Actual transportation will maximize the use of civilian infrastructure, but if any issues arise during this process, the military will focus on immediate situation control and coordination.

The private company responsible for transportation has not yet been decided. It is reported that the quarantine authorities will select and announce the company as early as next week.

Since the COVID-19 vaccines to be introduced domestically vary in storage, transportation, and vaccination procedures depending on the type, safe and rapid transportation is considered more critical than ever.

In particular, concerns remain about the vaccine distribution process due to incidents such as the "room temperature exposure" accident of the flu vaccine that occurred last year, so thorough preparation and response in this area are also the military's responsibility.

A Ministry of National Defense official explained, "For example, if a traffic accident occurs during transportation causing the loaded vaccines to be exposed to room temperature, a system will be activated to deploy alternative vehicles or helicopters. Such measures are difficult to implement without the military." The military will also take direct action when rapid vaccine transportation is required to remote or island areas.

The Ministry of National Defense plans to actively support all vaccination-related matters, including military medical personnel such as military doctors and nursing officers, facilities like military hospitals, vaccination personnel training, and administrative support, in line with the start of vaccine administration.

Meanwhile, regarding the military's COVID-19 response plan, the Ministry of National Defense reported to the Blue House that this year it will expand proactive and preemptive diagnostic testing to include new recruits at training institutions, correctional facility workers, officers undergoing job and refresher training, and personnel stationed at remote units.

Furthermore, measures will be devised to ensure that current operational elements such as command and control rooms and key standby forces can perform their missions at all times, while also promoting the increase of nursing staff, expansion of negative pressure facilities in frontline military hospitals, and construction of infectious disease research facilities.

Following the outbreak of a group infection at the Army Recruit Training Center, the Ministry of National Defense has expanded PCR testing for all new recruits from once to twice since the end of last year and is applying "military social distancing," which is stricter than the "social distancing" measures enforced by health authorities.

A Ministry of National Defense official emphasized, "We will mobilize all military assets to proactively and preemptively support until the daily lives of the public return to the pre-COVID-19 state."