Public Discourses on Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to COVID-19 and Vaccination Programs in Korea

Abstract

The Korean government’s non-pharmaceutical interventions to the COVID-19 epidemic have successfully lowered the number of infected patients and the overall mortality rate. Nonetheless, the public health authority’s various mitigation strategies and vaccination efforts have faced several challenges posed by politically motivated Christian fundamentalism and ultraconservative mainstream media. This paper examines how these conservative forces – both religious and political – have undermined the public health authority’s various mitigation efforts and discusses how to address the problems from a public policy point of view. The paper argues that a comprehensive legal reform including the introduction of effective punitive damages in the media market is a necessary minimum to address some of these problems.