Strike threat by S.Korean doctors fans fears of vaccine rollout disruption (updated)

SK Chemicals

22/02/2021 04:38

(Adds KDCA briefing; paragraphs 11-14)
    By Sangmi Cha and Hyonhee Shin
    SEOUL, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Doctors in South Korea have
threatened a protest strike against legislation to strip them of
licences following criminal convictions, sparking fears about
possible disruption of a coronavirus vaccination effort set to
begin this week. 
    Healthcare workers are scheduled to receive the first batch
of AstraZeneca's  AZN.L  vaccine from Friday, as South Korea
looks to protect 10 million high-risk people by July, on its way
to reaching herd immunity by November.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2KR02Q 
    But over the weekend, the Korean Medical Association (KMA),
the largest grouping of doctors, said it would go on strike if
parliament passed a bill to revoke the licences of doctors
getting jail terms.
    "The bill might result in ordinary, innocent doctors being
stripped of their licences and falling into hell because of an
accident that has nothing to do with their job, or lack of legal
knowledge," spokesman Kim Dae-ha said in a statement on Monday.
    Association president Choi Dae-zip has called the bill
"cruel", saying its passage into law would "destroy" current
cooperation with the government to treat the virus and carry out
the vaccine campaign.
    No date has been set yet for the strike, the KMA told
Reuters, however.
    The standoff stoked concern that any strike of doctors could
slow the rollout at a time when authorities are scrambling to
allocate medical personnel to about 250 inoculation centres and
10,000 clinics nationwide.
    Discord over the bill was undesirable ahead of the vaccine
rollout, the health ministry said, adding that the doctors'
association was in the grip of a "misunderstanding" about it.
    Parliament has been seeking to revise the Medical Service
Act to ban physicians guilty of violent crimes, such as sexual
abuse and murder, from practicing their skills. 
    Ruling party lawmakers pushing for the bill denounced the
association, saying it was trying to "take public health hostage
to maintain impunity from heinous crimes".
    
    VACCINATION TIMELINE
    AstraZeneca shots enough for about 750,000 people will be
distributed from a production facility of SK Chemicals
 285130.KS  unit SK bioscience to immunization centres across
the country from Wednesday, Korea Disease Control and Prevention
Agency (KDCA) director Jeong Eun-kyeong said.
    The first inoculation is set for Friday 9 a.m. (0000 GMT),
Jeong told a briefing on Monday.
    South Korea will begin administering the first of 117,000
doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine on Saturday to around
55,000 healthcare workers in COVID-19 treatment facilities.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2KR02Q
    The government's goal of reaching herd immunity by November
will only work if the public responds in good measure to the
vaccination programme and if authorities are able to secure
enough doses on time, as well as control the more transmissible
new variants, Jeong said.
    The medical association, with nearly 140,000 members, has a
long history of policy disputes with the government.
    Many hospitals were depleted of staff during the pandemic
last year when the group steered weeks-long walkouts over plans
to boost the number of medical students, build medical schools,
ease insurance coverage and increase telemedicine options.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2FS0BF
    That action spurred hundreds of thousands of Koreans to file
presidential petitions urging punishment for the doctors, as
polls showed 58% of respondents opposed the strike. There are no
surveys yet on the latest stalemate. 
    Last week, a government poll showed almost 94% of 367,000
healthcare workers aged 64 or younger in priority groups said
they were ready to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite
concerns over its efficacy in older people. About 95% said they
would accept Pfizer products. 
    South Korea reported 332 new virus infections by Sunday,
taking its tally to 87,324, and a death toll of 1,562.
    
    (Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/)
    

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FACTBOX-Latest on global spread of coronavirus     
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Coronavirus: knowns and unknowns     https://reut.rs/2UHIgvz
FACTBOX-Worldwide coronavirus deaths exceed 2.5 mln    
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 (Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Additional reporting and writing by
Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
 ((Sangmi.Cha@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5646; Reuters
Messaging: sangmi.cha.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))