779 Cases of Breakthrough Infections After Vaccination Completion... 437 Janssen Vaccinees Make Up Majority (Update)

56% of Suspected Breakthrough Infection Cases Are Janssen Vaccine Recipients
5 Severe Cases... No Deaths
"Difficult to Evaluate Vaccine Effectiveness by Breakthrough Infection Rate"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Along with the domestic COVID-19 outbreak, cases of 'breakthrough infections'?where individuals test positive after the 14-day immune formation period following vaccination?are increasing. As of the 22nd, among 5,543,933 fully vaccinated individuals, there are 779 suspected breakthrough infection cases.

Lee Sang-won, head of the Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, stated at the COVID-19 regular briefing on the 27th, "There are a total of 779 suspected breakthrough infection cases domestically, which corresponds to 14.1 cases per 100,000 people." He added, "By vaccine type, there are 169 cases for AstraZeneca (AZ), 172 for Pfizer, 437 for Janssen, and 1 case for the first dose AZ-second dose Pfizer cross-vaccination." Based on cases per 100,000 people, Janssen had the highest rate at 38.5, followed by AZ at 16.9, Pfizer at 5, and cross-vaccination at 0.7.

Among 226 suspected breakthrough infection cases where variant virus analysis was conducted, major variants were confirmed in 72 cases. These included 54 Delta variants, 17 Alpha variants, and 1 Beta variant.

There were 5 severe cases, accounting for 0.6% of the suspected breakthrough infection cases. Two were Janssen vaccine recipients (in their 30s and 50s), and three were Pfizer vaccine recipients (in their 80s). However, no deaths due to breakthrough infections have been reported.

Lee emphasized, "Breakthrough infections can occur with all vaccines, so this itself is not unusual. The incidence rate of breakthrough infections with COVID-19 vaccines currently used domestically is very low, and even if breakthrough infections occur after full vaccination, the severity and fatality rates decrease."

However, health authorities explained that it is difficult to evaluate the preventive effectiveness of each vaccine based solely on breakthrough infection rates. Park Young-jun, head of the Epidemiological Investigation Team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said, "Since the target populations for each vaccine and the community outbreak situations differ, simple comparisons are difficult. Overall, when looking at breakthrough infection status, the rate is quite low compared to the number of vaccinations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.