This file photo shows people waiting in line to eat at a free meal station in Daegu, 302 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 14, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Only 30 percent of homeless people in South Korea have been vaccinated for COVID-19, a homeless rights group said Wednesday.
Homeless Action conducted a survey of 101 homeless people at major subway stations, 70.3 percent (71 people) of whom said they had not received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine.
The respondents said they had not yet been vaccinated due to concerns over ‘side effects and not being able to treat them properly’ (43.7 percent), and a ‘lack of information on vaccination’ (33.8 percent).
“Extremely poor conditions and lack of accessibility to information regarding vaccination are behind the lower rate of vaccination among homeless people,” Homeless Action said, pointing out that the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency instructions on returning home, resting and using cold packs to regulate body temperature were designed without the consideration of homeless people.
Roughly 1 in 10 of the respondents said they had a smartphone registered under their name, while only 8.9 percent (9 people) said they had a non-smartphone mobile device.
“Reservations for vaccines are mostly completed online, and it becomes almost impossible to make a reservation or receive useful information without contact information, which makes it very difficult for homeless people to properly reserve and receive vaccinations,” the group added.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
