An expert panel to analyze the possible link between COVID-19 vaccines and adverse effects was launched on Friday.

The independent vaccine safety committee, consisting of 22 members from the National Academy of Medicine of Korea, will conduct a comprehensive review  of local and overseas cases and clinical studies.

The panel will set scientific standards to determine the causality between vaccines and negative impacts. It will seek to review vaccine safety and ease social anxiety.

While the existing compensation committee's role is to evaluate causality in specific cases, the new panel will look into the population as a whole. 

New findings from the safety committee, however, could overturn previous findings from the compensation panel review.