The government stockpiled more than 40 million masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, but criticism has emerged that management is lacking because there are no guidelines for managing expiration dates.
According to data submitted by Reform Party lawmaker Lee Juyoung, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 28th, the government purchased a total of 41.9 million masks starting in 2020. By year, 24.25 million were bought in 2020, 2.9 million in 2021, and 14.75 million in 2022, concentrated during the COVID-19 outbreak. Distribution amounted to 11.02 million in 2020, 12.25 million in 2021, and 11.52 million in 2022, for a total of 36.21 million.
In addition to masks, personal protective equipment, including COVID-19 protective suits, was also purchased starting in 2020, with 17.91 million units procured and 15.83 million distributed.
Lee said, "The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency currently has no separate storage and management guidelines by item for personal protective equipment, including masks," and noted, "The typical period of use is set at around five years, and the agency's position is that disposal is unavoidable once the period expires."
Lee continued, "Masks past their expiration date may have reduced fine-particle blocking performance, so the disease control authorities recommend not using them in places with high infection risk," and emphasized, "National quarantine supplies must be deployable immediately when needed, so inventory management and efficiency should be strengthened to prevent any materials from being discarded."
With no management guidelines, government stockpiled masks facing disposal as they reach their expiration dates are piling up. Earlier, People Power Party lawmaker Park Sunghoon of the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee also said on the 21st, citing an analysis of Public Procurement Service data, that as of August this year, the expiration dates of 18.61 million masks (49.9%)—nearly half of the 37.28 million government stockpiled masks—were within six months.
The remaining 18.67 million are also scheduled to reach their expiration dates within 18 months, making large-scale disposal unavoidable.
During the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, the government designated masks as "emergency supply control items," stockpiled 150 million through a supplementary budget, and continued to purchase tens of millions more each year through 2023. However, as demand plunged after the pandemic ended, the annual release volume, which reached 127 million in 2022, fell to around 6 million last year, causing inventories to surge rapidly.
In July, the Public Procurement Service adjusted the stockpile target to 37 million masks after consultations with related agencies, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. However, to maintain the target, the government will have to purchase amounts equivalent to the quantities discarded after their expiration dates.
Park emphasized, "Even considering that large-scale stockpiling was unavoidable to prepare for the spread of new infectious diseases, the overall system, including the way mask stockpiles are managed and the inventory control framework, must be improved."