Authorities: "Vaccines and Social Distancing Have Clear Effects... COVID-19 Is Different from the Flu"

Refutation of Various 'Mu-yong-ron' Theories

Photo is unrelated to the article content / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The quarantine authorities refuted various claims regarding COVID-19 vaccination, vaccination certification and negative test confirmation system (quarantine pass), and the ineffectiveness of social distancing by presenting various statistics.

On the 4th, the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) stated at an afternoon briefing, "We will provide evidence on how effective vaccination is in preventing death and severe cases. Unvaccinated individuals, who make up only 6.2% of the adult population aged 18 and over, accounted for about half of the severe cases or deaths in the past eight weeks."

According to the CDCH, during the two months following the phased return to normal life in November, 50.6% of severe cases and 49% of deaths were among the unvaccinated. An official emphasized, "In the fourth week of December last year, the proportion of deaths among the unvaccinated rose to 62.9%. Recently, 6 out of 10 deaths were people who had never been vaccinated."

They also rebutted the claim that "social distancing measures are ineffective in quarantine." Jeong Tongryeong, the CDCH's general coordination team leader, said, "The COVID-19 virus spreads very rapidly and is highly infectious, so it is impossible to control it with just one or two measures such as mask-wearing or vaccination. No country has controlled the outbreak without strengthening social distancing for a certain period. Looking at our country's case, after easing distancing in November last year, confirmed cases surged, but after several rounds of strengthening, the spread was curbed and the outbreak entered a controlled phase."

He also reiterated the effectiveness of vaccination. Jeong said, "The group that completed the second dose showed a 2.3 times reduction in infection compared to the unvaccinated group, and severe cases and deaths decreased by 11 times and 9 times respectively." He highlighted that the proportion of infections and confirmed cases among those aged 60 and over, which surged after the easing of distancing measures, decreased with additional vaccinations.

Regarding the claim that "viruses that create variants will gradually lose effectiveness over time, so social distancing and vaccine development are unnecessary," he explained, "COVID-19 is a virus that mutates very easily and requires continuous vaccine development," adding, "Nevertheless, the vaccines developed so far have been effective, and there are technologies that can develop vaccines tailored to new variants within a few months."

He continued, "As the virus spreads, the possibility of mutation increases, so to minimize mutations, it is essential for all population groups to get vaccinated to prevent spread."

Regarding the claim that "vaccines interfere with natural immunity antibody formation and only cause side effects instead of preventing infection," he drew a line, saying, "It cannot be simply said that natural immunity is superior." Jeong said, "Studies show that natural immunity from infection is not very effective if the infection was mild. The immunity acquired varies depending on the symptoms. If symptoms are mild, the immunity may be lower than that from vaccination, and if symptoms are severe, it can lead to a dangerous condition."

He also explained, "Both immunity from vaccination and natural immunity can lead to reinfection over time," but added, "Vaccination effectiveness can be predicted for several months after administration." Since infection can pass unnoticed without symptoms and it is difficult to determine how long immunity lasts, acquiring immunity through vaccination is ultimately more effective and advantageous as herd immunity.

Regarding the claim that "COVID-19 is no different from the flu," he emphasized, "It can never be treated the same." Jeong said, "COVID-19 currently shows a cumulative fatality rate of about 1%, which is more than 10 times that of the flu."

He added, "The flu figures come from situations without social distancing, but COVID-19 figures are from a context of much higher vaccination rates and strong social distancing," and noted, "In other countries, the fatality rate of COVID-19 has reached as high as 4 to 5%."

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