[Newsship] What do you think of 'Youth Prevention Pass'?

Controversy over the quarantine pass for teenagers is heating up.

The government announced that it would apply the quarantine pass to teenagers aged 12 to 18 (6th grade in elementary school to 3rd grade in high school) from February next year.

If you go to a school, library, reading room, swimming pool, or other facilities directly related to the daily life of students, such as Taekwondo, you must get the vaccine.

That's why they say 'actually compulsory vaccination'.

[What's going on?] Youth vaccine 'choice → virtually forced'

In front of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, wreaths of Geunjo were lined up in a long line.

The wreath reads that they are desperately opposed to the introduction of a quarantine pass that forces students to vaccinate.

Parents' groups are holding protests in various places demanding the right of children and adolescents to choose a corona vaccine, and teachers' organizations such as the Korea Federation of Teachers and Teachers' Unions also expressed their opposition to the quarantine pass.

Dozens of petitions are pouring in the Blue House every day, demanding that students and parents cancel the application of the quarantine pass for children and adolescents.

More than 300,000 people signed the petition against the youth quarantine pass.

(※ The above survey has limitations as non-login surveys, not official opinion surveys. There was an opinion that there were duplicate votes in some circumstances.) As a

result of the survey through the SBS News website, as of 6 pm on the 8th, 62 of all respondents % opposed the introduction of the youth quarantine pass.

As the reason for the objection, 42% of the respondents said that 'the choice of youth and their parents is ignored'.

33% of the respondents answered that 'they failed to form a consensus on the need for vaccination and safety'.

The government is accelerating in earnest to increase the youth vaccination rate.

Since the 6th, quarantine authorities have been conducting a demand survey for 'school unit vaccination', including the method of going to school from a public health center in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry of Education also designated the two weeks from the 13th to the 24th as the 'intensive vaccination support week' and announced that it would be intensively vaccinated after the final exam.

[what's the problem?

Why did the government suddenly take out the 'Youth Prevention Pass' card?

This is because the number of youth confirmed cases has increased markedly since 'With Corona'.

When youth vaccination began in September, the government was in a position to leave it to 'autonomy' about youth vaccination.

However, as the gradual recovery of daily life, 'with Corona', started from last month, and full school attendance was expanded, the number of youth infections began to increase rapidly, and as a result, the policy stance changed.

The number of adolescents (aged 12-17) increased from 3,630 in September → 4,837 in October → 6,612 in November.

Since November, the average daily number of confirmed adolescents has been maintained at more than 236.6.

In the past four weeks (from the 2nd week of November to the 1st week of December), the incidence rate of COVID-19 among adolescents under the age of 18 has surpassed that of adults.

The number of cases per 100,000 was 210.1, exceeding 167.3 among adults.

It didn't matter how badly they were sick.

This is because the government's own policy stance has so far been to consider the number of confirmed cases as a score for quarantine.

It is a scientific fact that higher vaccination rates in certain age groups reduce infections.

Therefore, the government's position is that it is necessary to increase the vaccination rate for adolescents, so the prevention pass has no choice but to apply to adolescents.

As criticism grew, the quarantine authorities gave an explanation that even if a youth contracted Corona, there was little risk of death or worsening of seriousness, but as the number of teenagers contracting Corona increased, some of them would appear at risk.

17% of confirmed adolescents were admitted to medical institutions, and 11 cases of severe severe illness occurred, all of whom were not vaccinated.

It was also considered that confirmed adolescents could transmit the virus to adults in the household (especially elderly grandparents).

[Why are you opposing it?] ① "Application of library institutes violates the right to learn"

The epicenter of the conflict is a 'learning space' for young people, such as hagwons, reading rooms, and study cafes. From February next year, adolescents can only go to private institutes, libraries, and study cafes only if they have completed vaccination or have received a PCR negative confirmation within 48 hours. It has been argued that applying the quarantine pass to academies, libraries, and reading rooms, where students must go to study, is a de facto violation of the right to study. A complaint was filed with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, and a constitutional complaint stating that it was unconstitutional was foretold.

What about the situation in other countries? Israel, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, New Zealand, Greece, and the United States (New York, San Francisco) are also applying quarantine passes to teenagers over 12 years old. In France, a 'health pass' is applied to restaurants, cafes and long-distance transportation for people over 12 years of age. In Italy, people over the age of 13 can use a 'Green Pass' for cultural and public facilities. Denmark has re-introduced the Corona Pass and places restrictions on restaurants, hospitals, and amusement parks for those aged 16 and over. However, no country has applied the vaccine pass to the 'learning space' targeting teenagers so far (as of December 10).

In Austria, which has the strongest vaccine policy in Europe, university students cannot enter school without a vaccine pass.

However, 12-18 year olds are an exception.

In Queensland, Australia, which is the world's first to enforce a vaccine compulsory policy in secondary schools, it is mandatory for teachers and school facility workers to be vaccinated, but students are an exception.

Of course, it is difficult to make a direct comparison because there are few countries that attend as many hagwons as Korea.

What we need to consider here is the Korean specificity of the academy.

Unlike Europe or America, 'hakwon' plays a unique role in Korea.

Although it is not a legal institution, it is a private educational institution, but serves as an essential educational institution for most families.

When children are young, various hagwons are also childcare facilities responsible for after-school care.

If you think of 'academies' and 'study cafes' as just 'multi-use facilities where many students gather,' you may be able to push ahead with the current quarantine pass policy.

However, this was a treatment that did not carefully consider the views of students and parents.

[Why are you opposing it?] ② "Is the benefit of youth vaccination really that great?"

Although the risk of corona in children and adolescents is not '0', the possibility of becoming infected with COVID-19 and worsening into severe illness is very small.

It is extremely rare for healthy children to die from Corona, and most children who die are already suffering from a life-threatening disease.

Given the relatively small risk of contracting the coronavirus, this means that there must be a clear and obvious benefit to vaccination.

Two months ago, when all schools were reopened in the metropolitan area, the government was of the opinion that "the risk of infection for students is not high". The side effects of the vaccine are similar to those of adults, but the position of the quarantine authorities at the time was that it was left to the individual judge whether or not to receive the vaccine because the benefit from the vaccination was not great. However, vaccination is recommended only for children with underlying diseases such as diabetes or obesity. The government will play a role in helping people decide whether to get vaccinated by faithfully providing objective and scientific information to avoid forcing or inducing vaccination.

The government took out the 'Youth Prevention Pass Card' on the 3rd, two months later. At a briefing on the 7th, four days later, a question was asked, "Please disclose the analysis on the benefits of vaccination for ages 12-17." In response, Hong Jung-ik, head of the inoculation management team, Bang Dae-bon, replied, "We did not proceed to a level where the analysis of the benefits of inoculation could be disclosed." Team leader Hong explained, “The risk factors are adverse reactions such as myocarditis and pericarditis.”

It is pointed out that while the government has changed its position and in fact forced students to be vaccinated, it has not even analyzed the benefits and potential risks of vaccination.

It is natural for policies to change depending on circumstances.

However, there was insufficient explanation of the vaccine efficacy and adverse reactions that students and parents were most worried about.

If the government had carried out the task of persuading public opinion more meticulously with sufficient scientific evidence as to why the government changed its position, the opposition would not have been the same as it is now.

On the 8th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye personally stepped forward to develop a backlash over youth vaccination and quarantine pass application, but the backlash was strong.

Not only the people who came to the forum, but also the real-time comments on the YouTube channel, voiced opposition to the youth vaccination and the application of the quarantine pass.

Finally, the government held a special briefing session the next day.

Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyung, together with experts, cites statistical data as the basis for persuasion.

The conclusion was that "the effect of COVID-19 vaccination is clear and the risk of adverse reactions among adolescents is lower than that of adults."

Just two days after he said, 'We did not analyze the benefits of inoculation,' the government released specific statistics.

[Why is it enforced?] "Vaccination effect is clear and side effects are few"

As the vaccination rate has increased, the number of confirmed cases has definitely decreased.

There is a clear difference in the average incidence rate of 100,000 confirmed cases between high school seniors (18 years old) who received compulsory vaccination and adolescents aged 12 to 15 with low vaccination rates.

In high school 3, where the vaccination rate is 96.9%, the incidence rate per 100,000 population decreased after the first and second vaccinations, so the incidence rate is lower than that of other grades.

For 16-17 year olds, the number of confirmed cases is decreasing as the vaccination completion rate has recently risen to around 60%.

The incidence is highest between 12 and 15 years of age, when vaccination rates are low.

The quarantine authorities explained that when adolescents were vaccinated, the effect of preventing infection was 96% and the prevention of severe cases was 100%.

However, in the case of children and adolescents, as there are rare deaths or severe cases due to COVID-19 infection, parents are more concerned about the side effects of the vaccine than how much the infection itself has decreased.

The quarantine authorities are emphasizing that adolescents have fewer adverse reactions to vaccines than adults.

According to data released by the government, as of the 5th of last month, the reporting rate of adverse reactions among adolescents aged 12 to 17 was 0.28%, lower than that of adults (0.37%).

Suspected adverse reactions were mainly side effects such as injection site pain, fatigue, and headache.

In the United States, 13 million people under the age of 18 have been vaccinated.

As of the time when there were 8.9 million vaccinated people, 9,200 people complained of side effects.

Adverse reactions were reported in 1 in 1,000 people and death was reported in 14 cases.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that there was no vaccine-related causal relationship to the deaths.

In the UK, 9 out of 2.3 million children and adolescents vaccinated are reported to have died.

British health officials said the numbers were too low to analyze.

However, it emphasized that the number of deaths that did not receive the vaccine at the same age was 144, which is higher.

[Other countries?] A world where 'vaccine pass' is strengthened despite conflict

Countries around the world are pursuing increasingly robust vaccine policies.

The Austrian government, which declared compulsory vaccinations, will impose a fine of up to 3,600 euros (approximately 4,780,000 won) every three months for those who do not vaccinate.

In New York City, children over the age of 5 must have at least one dose of the vaccine before they can enter restaurants and theaters.

The reason for implementing a stronger policy regardless of protests against mandatory vaccination is because the data clearly shows that the higher the vaccination rate, the lower the seriousness and mortality rate.

According to the statistics released by the European Union last month, there is a clear difference in the number of corona deaths in countries with high vaccination rates and countries with low vaccination rates.

Recently, a team from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) published a study that found that vaccination reduced the number of deaths by about 500,000.

As a result of analyzing the death toll over the age of 60 and the corona vaccine vaccination rate in 33 European countries for one year from December 2020, only 51% of the estimated total death toll of 911,302 actually died from the coronavirus.

In particular, this effect was greater in countries with high vaccination rates.

The age of vaccination is also expanding.

The U.S. started vaccinating people 5 years of age and older from the beginning of November.

(However, the quarantine pass policy differs for each state.) Europe also started vaccinating Pfizer vaccines for 5-11 year-olds from the end of November.

In Berlin, Germany, you must present a certificate of vaccination or a negative certificate to enter indoor facilities.

Vaccine-negative certificates are also mandatory for children aged 6-12.

Korea will soon decide whether to vaccinate children or not.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that it has begun a preliminary review of clinical data in relation to the application for approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, issued by Pfizer Korea.

Pfizer Korea submitted data from a vaccine clinical trial in which 10 μg, which is one-third of the adult dose, was administered to children aged 5-11 years.

[What will happen?] "I will come up with an improvement plan" to the objection of students and parents

The government announced that it would discuss supplementary measures as students and parents continued to object to the introduction of the youth quarantine pass.

In a briefing held on the 9th, Director Jung Eun-kyung of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said, "I am well aware of the concerns and opinions of parents. We will discuss with the relevant ministries based on what we can do,” he said.

It is an official statement that the government is considering adjustment regarding the youth quarantine pass.

Looking at the statistics presented by the government, it seems clear that the effect of vaccination is great.

However, if even a small number of side effects occur to me, the effects of many are meaningless to me.

That's human psychology.

The situation at the beginning of vaccination and now is different.

Those who have not been vaccinated so far are those who have doubts about the vaccine or have circumstances that cannot be used.

They cannot help but have great antipathy for the policy that pressures vaccination.

Considering that, the government's work to persuade public opinion had to be more meticulous and thorough.

At a briefing on the Youth Vaccine Pass, the government emphasized once again that it would provide broad and expeditious support for compensation for adverse vaccine reactions and medical expenses.

However, due to the behavior the government has shown so far, it is pointed out that it can be trusted now.

So far, 1,340 cases have been reported as deaths after vaccination.

Of these, only one case of 'death compensation' was paid, and only two cases where causality was recognized.