Distrust over COVID-19 vaccinations continues

Medical workers guide people at a COVID-19 testing center in Seoul's Songpa District, Thursday. Yonhap

Gov't considers administering COVID-19 vaccines more regularly

By Jun Ji-hye

An increasing number of residents here are questioning the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccinations amid a continued increase in breakthrough infections involving people who tested positive even after having been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Concerns come as nearly half of infected people in recent weeks were breakthrough cases.

Among 17,325 patients over the age of 18 who were confirmed to have COVID-19 between Oct. 17 and 30, 48.1 percent, or 8,336, had been fully vaccinated, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters.

The number of breakthrough cases has been increasing rapidly month after month ― from seven in May to 116 in June, 1,180 in July, 2,764 in August, 8,913 in September and 15,311 in October.

"I think more people now don't feel the need to get vaccinated, as vaccinations do not totally prevent infections," a 37-year-old man who works for a startup in Seoul said. "I really don't know why we should accept the risk of adverse reactions that could be caused after vaccinations, if the efficacy of vaccines wears off with time."

With regard to the questioning the efficacy of vaccines, medical experts pointed out the increasing number of breakthrough infections has been rising along with the number of fully vaccinated people since the vaccination program began in February.

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According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), 77.4 percent of the country's 52 million people have been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday.

Medical experts said COVID-19 vaccines may have become less effective at preventing infection, as most of the vaccines used were developed based on the original strain of the virus found in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic.

They cited that various COVID-19 mutations including the highly contagious Delta variant have emerged since then, causing a high number of serious cases and deaths around the world.

"There have been reports that the COVID-19 vaccines would become less effective four to six months after vaccination," said Jung Ki-suck, a professor of pulmonology at Hallym University. "In Korea, those who received injections between February and March would have experienced a decrease in the efficacy of vaccines."

A COVID-19 vaccine booster shot is being administered at a hospital in southwestern Seoul's Yangcheon District, Monday, when the government began offering booster shots to those who got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine. Yonhap

Both experts and health authorities, however, stressed that vaccination is also effective in preventing virus patients from falling seriously ill or dying.

The authorities noted that unvaccinated patients face much higher risks of falling seriously ill or dying compared to fully vaccinated patients infected with the virus, at rates of 22 times and 9.4 times higher, respectively.

"For the past seven months, the entire ratio of seriously ill virus patients has been tallied at 1.93 percent, but the figure stood at 2.93 percent for unvaccinated people and 0.56 percent for fully vaccinated people," said Sohn Young-rae, spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

"When it comes to patients over the age of 80, there is a greater difference, as the figure stood at 27.41 percent for the unvaccinated and 8.32 percent for the fully vaccinated."

As part of efforts to maintain the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, the KDCA is considering administering the vaccines to people more regularly, as is done with flu vaccines.

According to a report that the government submitted to four political parties, the KDCA is considering including COVID-19 vaccinations in a list of "essential" inoculations provided for free by the government, in line with the government's "Living with COVID-19" scheme aimed at gradually achieving a "return to normalcy."

Currently, the government offers free flu shots to the elderly, young children and pregnant women every year.

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