Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Koreans urged to get flu vaccination to prevent double threat with COVID-19
Food and Drug Safety Minister Lee Eui-kyung, second from left, checks the production of Influenza vaccine during a visit to a pharmaceutical company in South Chungcheong Province, in this June 21 photo. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Influenza and COVID-19 are caused by different viruses, but some similar symptoms can make it hard for people to tell the difference between them. As the country could face a possible second wave of coronavirus infections here, the health authorities are strongly advising the public to get a vaccination for flu before the seasonal disease appears in the fall.
During a regular press briefing last week, Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), said the trend of this year's flu virus will be significantly different from last year, and the World Health Organization (WHO) also forecast that the flu will be more active and spread more widely this year than last.
“For these reasons, the government has strongly urged the public to get vaccinated so that health professionals can easily spot COVID-19 infections,” Kwon said.
The medical community has also recommended that people get the vaccination to prevent an overloading of the medical system, which could be caused by a surge in the number of patients with respiratory diseases, and to manage their health during the coronavirus pandemic.
The US CDC has estimated that the 2019-2020 seasonal influenza epidemic resulted in tens of millions of cases and tens of thousands of deaths.
“Even in non-pandemic years, the flu and other causes of pneumonia represent the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States, and respiratory viruses are the most commonly identified pathogens among hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia,” Benjamin Singer, a Northwestern Medicine pulmonologist who treats COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit, was quoted as saying by Science Daily.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced last week that it had approved 875,000 doses of influenza vaccines, which is more than 10 days shorter than the average processing date of 35 days, in order to the health and medical system can operate smoothly in case of coronavirus infections coincide with the seasonal flu season.
The drug safety ministry said approximately 27 million doses of influenza vaccines are estimated to be supplied this year, an increase over last year. Among them, 19 million will be provided for free, up 5.19 million of last year's 13.81 million. People between the ages of 14 to 18 and 62 to 64 have been added to a list of eligibility for free flu vaccinations.
Until last year, the drug safety ministry offered free flu shots to the elderly aged 65 or older, pregnant women, and children aged between six months and 12. This is expected to help prevent flu outbreaks in schools as all teenagers are included in the list of free flu vaccinations.
The government's move follows concerns that a large increase in the number of flu cases in the Corona 19 epidemic could lead to a shortage of medical resources and paralyzing the health care system.
It takes two weeks for the vaccination to take effect, and it is effective for six months. It is recommend the public complete the vaccination between September and November, as December is the peak season to get infected. In particular, experts say the flu vaccination should be completed at the end of November as many people as possible.
“Much of the population prepares immune system against Influenza, the stress on hospitals will be manageable even if the COVID-19 and Influenza epidemics overlap and peak around the same time. If the number of individuals infected with each virus will peak at different times, reducing the peak demand of hospital beds will be also possible,” said Lee Jae-gap, a professor of infectious disease at the College of Medicine at Hallym University.