The government will start providing Covid-19 vaccines to children aged 5-11 soon, starting with high-risk groups due to weakened immunity, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said Monday.Jeong said the agency is preparing an inoculation plan for 5- to 11-
The 12th Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism Conference (Medical Korea 2022) will open on Thursday, organized by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.Medical Korea 2022 comprises academic conferences, briefing sessions, seminars,
As the Omicron wave keeps spreading, civics activists called for the government to discontinue relaxing Covid-19 restrictions on Monday.The number of new virus cases is rising steeply, and the daily death toll keeps breaking records, said the Korean Federation of Medical Activist Groups for Health R
The government decided to push back the business curfew on cafes, restaurants, and other multiuse facilities by an hour to 11 p.m. from Saturday.The eased distancing rules follow the government's decision to temporarily halt the vaccine mandate applied to multiuse facilities and gatherings from Tues
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, making him the highest-ranking government official to test positive for the virus.According to Kim’s office, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on Kim came back positive, adding that he will receive at-home treatment for seven
Korea's daily Covid-19 cases surpassed 200,000 for the first time on Wednesday as the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues to spread across the nation.The surge in cases comes after the government suspended the vaccine mandate to ease the workload on medical workers and health officials.Un
Civic activists have rated four major presidential candidates' health and medical campaign pledges, and the score got worse as a candidate leaned to the right.The Korean Federation of Medical Activist Group for Health Rights divided the four major runners’ healthcare pledges into four areas – streng
The government said Monday that it would virtually halt the vaccine mandate from next month amid controversy over its effectiveness.At a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, the participants decided to temporarily suspend the application of the vaccine mandate, called “q
Internationally renowned experts are scheduled to gather at Medical Korea 2022 to discuss a new direction of the global healthcare industry in the post-Covid-19 era, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) said.Medical Korea 2022, hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and orga
Korea had the third-highest second-dose Covid-19 vaccination rate among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), following Portugal and Chile, government data showed. In terms of the third-dose vaccination rate, Korea ranked seventh. Since the first vaccination on
Hematologists denounced the government’s restriction on the period of the health insurance coverage of Xospata (gilteritinib), a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that takes effect from March 1. Limiting the period of Xospata reimbursement up to four cycles is a result of “typical bureaucra
As major presidential candidates announced policy pledges ahead of the March 9 election, civic groups called for candidate Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to reveal plans to expand public healthcare services. Candidate Yoon’s health and medical pledge contain only problema
Korea’s state health insurance recorded a “surplus” of 2.82 trillion won ($2.34 billion) last year. In the early stage of the “Moon Jae-in care” – a policy to expand medical insurance coverage -- concerns mounted about depleting health insurance finances. However, the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic ove
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum confirmed again on Friday that the Omicron wave’s peak would come around mid-March when the daily Covid-19 cases are likely to reach about 250,000.“What’s clear is that we are getting close to the peak,” Kim said while presiding over a daily meeting. “I can say that the p
The U.S. FDA issued a warning against the use of illegally marketed antidepressant tianeptine, saying the product is linked to severe harm, overdose, and even death.Consumers must avoid using any medicine that contains tianeptine, the regulator noted.In Korea, tianeptine is available as a prescripti
Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol said Thursday that the government is changing its quarantine strategy according to the characteristics of the Omicron variant, dismissing any political implications behind the recently eased restrictions.“There are criticisms about the government’s send
Janssen’s Erleada (apalutamide) and Astellas’ Xtandi (enzalutamide) passed the review of the Cancer Drugs Benefit Appraisal Committee for health insurance benefits as combination therapy with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to treat metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC).In contrast
The nation’s new virus cases topped 170,000 on Wednesday amid the increase of severely ill patients. Still, government officials attempted to emphasize “positive factors,” citing the low mortality rate of the Omicron variant. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, new virus ca
Evaluating that Covid-19 is in the early stages of becoming an endemic disease, the government said Tuesday that it would push for recovering daily life if it can stably manage the situation.“Korea is at the beginning stage of the transition toward managing Covid-19 like an endemic while continuing
Tired of the prolonging Covid-19 and loosened by the Omicron variant’s low severity and fatality, some Koreans demand the government lift virus restrictions to let more people get infected and get out of the pandemic.However, according to most experts, nothing could be more dangerous if the abrupt a