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.
People delaying booster shots until last minute
A visitor shows a vaccine certificate on a smartphone via a QR code at a discount store in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The government is encouraging the public to receive booster shots against COVID-19, but many people are postponing it until just before their vaccine pass is set to expire after six months, in an effort to widen the vaccination intervals as much as possible.
This trend is because many people now think that they may have to receive a fourth and even fifth vaccination.
Kim Hae-jun, a 28-year-old office worker living in Geumcheon District in Seoul, said she plans to wait until right before her vaccine pass expires and then receive the next booster shot.
“Looking at the current virus situation, I thought that health authorities might recommend a fourth vaccine dose. But as concerns over possible side effects of the vaccine have not been allayed yet, I am trying to monitor the virus situation more at least for a couple of months to avoid receiving vaccines repeatedly,” Kim said.
The vaccine pass, which is given when one finishes the second round of the vaccine, is valid for six months.
To use multiuse indoor facilities such as restaurants and cafes after the six months, one has to receive a booster shot before the expiration of their vaccine pass or show a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result obtained within 48 hours.
A number of online users have also shared their plans to postpone their scheduled booster shots.
“I repeatedly make the reservation and then cancel the booster shot, as I haven't decided whether to get it now or as late as possible,” one user wrote. “But I guess that the government will encourage us to get a fourth dose again sooner or later, so I'm going to wait until five months pass after the second dose.”
Another user also wrote, “I suffered from muscle pain after receiving the second dose, so I am trying to delay the booster shot as much as possible.”
Such reactions have come mainly due to uncertainties over whether there will be a fourth or more inoculations. Health authorities are currently mulling over giving a fourth shot to those with weakened immune systems, although they are not considering it for younger, healthier people.
In fact, the rate of people getting booster shots is not very high, except for the elderly aged 60 or older, who the government encouraged last month to get their booster shots.
As of Sunday, 54.3 percent of people subject to a third shot, who received their second dose at least three months before, had their third shot, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The ratio was 87.3 percent among those aged 60 or older, but only 38.1 percent among people aged between 18 and 59.
Health authorities have called on people to receive the booster shots as quickly as possible if three months have passed since their second dose, in order to reduce the number of daily infections and protect the country's medical system.
The level of immunity to the virus is compromised as early as three months after the second dose of inoculation, increasing the possibility of breakthrough infection.
In fact the cumulative number of breakthrough infections of people aged 18 to 59 was 127.6 per 100,000 people until the fourth week of November last year, but increased to 327.8 in the fourth week of December.
Experts say that they understand people who worry about the possibility of the fourth or even fifth dose of vaccinations, but that delaying vaccination is not entirely a good idea.
“Infection with Omicron variant is not protected by the completion of a second inoculation alone, and antibodies tend to be compromised six months after inoculation. Therefore, even if you are young and healthy, it is better to receive the third shot five months after the second one,” said Chung Ki-suk, professor of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital.