A medical worker vaccinates a citizen at an inoculation center in Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 24, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A majority of South Koreans share the view that the country should develop a domestic COVID-19 vaccine, but their attitude towards participating in clinical trials remains passive.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea National Enterprise for Clinical Trials jointly conducted a survey of 1,600 men and women.
In response to a question asking about their attitude towards clinical trials for the development of a homegrown vaccine, 74.3 percent of the respondents answered ‘positive’ or ‘very positive.
Roughly one third said that clinical trials would be safe, while 51.4 percent said the safety of such trials was ‘normal.’ Another 14.9 percent of the respondents, however, said that clinical testing was not safe.
The share of those who said they had no intention to participate in clinical trials was high at 78.6 percent. As for the reason why they had no intention to do so, 30.7 percent said they were concerned about the side effects of the vaccine.
By age group, those in their 50s and 60s showed the highest intention to participate at 24 percent, while the share of those who intended to participate in the clinical trials was low at 16.5 percent among those in their 20s.
Among those who answered that they intended to participate in clinical trials, 36.1 percent cited ‘the acquisition of vaccine sovereignty’ as the primary reason to do so, followed by ‘contribution to the development of new medicine’ at 20.1 percent.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
