The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) held a seminar under the theme of “Europe’s Response to COVID-19: Global Governance on Prevention of Pandemic and Vaccination” on Thursday, April 22, 2021. This seminar examined why European countries, traditionally considered as “developed countries," have seemingly struggled with their COVID-19 response, and looked into the unique systems and various political and social contexts in Europe.

Senior Research Fellow Kim Nam-Soon of the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA), comprehensively reviewed the UK and Germany's COVID-19 responses in terms of current status, strategy, medical preparation system, and expert advisory groups, and compared this to the case of Korea.

Jung Tong-ryung, Technical Officer at the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Division of the World Health Organization, introduced issues in the global vaccine production, procurement, and inoculation process, including the COVAX facility, and analyzed the background of the EU's joint vaccination of COVID-19 and its advantages and disadvantages.

In the first session, Dr. Jang Youngook, an associate research fellow at KIEP, pointed out that health responses interact with socioeconomic requirements of each country.

Hwang Injeong, Research Professor at the Center for Good Democracy, Sungkyunkwan University, provided a presentation on how the organizational characteristics of the EU were reflected in the vaccination process in Europe. She also added a political analysis of the conflict and harmony between EU-level governance and the autonomy of individual member states.

Researcher Song Jungmin of the Center for Future Policy Studies in Myongji University analyzed how trends in political parties and public opinion are linked to the public’s aversions to vaccination and suggested that far-right or far-left tendencies in Hungary, France, and Slovakia were closely linked to unwillingness to be innoculated.

Jung Ungki from the Health Policy Research Consortium (HPRC) summed up the second session and predicted the future of the European Union.

A discussion session followed, during which Joe Dong Hee, Head of Europe Team at KIEP, and Kim SangJune from the HPRC shared their views on the balance between quarantine and vaccination in terms of economics, and the characteristics of European quarantine responses. The discussants agreed that the EU's vaccination efforts relatively lagged behind the US and UK, but did not seriously fall behind compared to the world average. They also pointed out that the EU-level joint response to distribute vaccines to all member countries was a positive measure and called for an evaluation of quarantine responses in line with social contexts. 

- Title: Europe’s Response to COVID-19: Global Governance on Prevention of Pandemic and Vaccination

- Date & Time: Thursday, April 22th, 2021, 14:00-18:00

- Venue: KIEP Conference Room, Sejong National Research Complex, Sejong

- Host: Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)

- Facilitator: Health Policy Research Consortium (HPRC)

- Contact: Dr. Jang Youngook, Europe Team (yojang@kiep.go.kr)

* Seminar Presentations Download