[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Shin Hyun-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and a former doctor, pointed out on the 21st during the National Assembly's government questioning session that "we should not simply compare countries with high vaccination rates such as the United States and the United Kingdom with our country."
During the government questioning session on education, society, and culture held at the National Assembly that afternoon, Shin asked Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol, "Is it beneficial to excessively or simply compare (vaccination rates) between countries?"
In response, Minister Kwon said, "The United States and the United Kingdom had very high numbers of confirmed cases and deaths. Due to unavoidable limitations in social distancing, they adopted vaccination as a priority strategy," adding, "Quarantine measures should be planned and implemented according to the situation each country faces."
Shin stated, "In the case of Israel, which has a high vaccination rate, they adopted a strategy of turning the entire country into a massive clinical trial site," and requested restraint in comparisons, explaining, "They received priority vaccine supply on the condition of providing patients' clinical information to global pharmaceutical companies in real time."
Regarding Shin's question, "If 12 million people complete vaccination by June, can we consider the recovery of daily life to have begun?" Minister Kwon replied, "Yes," and added, "By November, the second dose will be completed, and we can consider ourselves almost at the stage of daily life recovery."
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