Health Authorities: "COVID-19 Vaccine 2nd and 3rd Doses Continue to Prevent Severe Cases and Deaths"

Unvaccinated Confirmed Cases Fatality Rate 1.39%
Second Dose Confirmed Cases 0.58%, Third Dose Confirmed Cases 0.27%

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Although the infection prevention effect decreases over time after COVID-19 vaccination, the prevention effect against severe illness and death from the 2nd and 3rd vaccinations still persists.

According to the 'Analysis of Preventive Effects by Elapsed Time after COVID-19 Vaccination' recently announced by the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 19th, the effect decreases over time after the 2nd vaccination, but the prevention effect against severe illness and death continues, and the prevention effect increases after the 3rd vaccination.

This result was conducted on 3.77 million people aged 75 and older and 3.2 million people aged 12 to 18 residing in Korea. The elapsed time after the 2nd and 3rd vaccinations was analyzed by dividing it into within 2 months (~60 days), 3 months (60~90 days), and after 3 months (90 days~).

For those aged 75 and older, the infection prevention effect decreased to about 39-43% three months after the 2nd vaccination, but showed an increase to over 78% up to three months after the 3rd vaccination. The prevention effect against severe illness and death was maintained at over 80% up to three months after the 2nd vaccination and rose to over 90% after the 3rd vaccination.

The infection prevention effect for those aged 12 to 18 was 46-88% up to two months after the 2nd vaccination but decreased over time, and for 18-year-olds, it slightly increased to 47-62% after the 3rd vaccination. Although there were some variations by age group, the results were analyzed as similar.

Also, from July last year, when the Delta variant became dominant, to January this year, when the Omicron variant became dominant, the death progression risk was evaluated for 530,827 confirmed cases, adjusting for major factors related to death (gender, age, confirmation period, region, vaccination status). The death progression risk by age group was 11.1 to 14.8 times higher for those aged 60-74 compared to those in their 30s to 50s, and 125.3 to 164.1 times higher for those aged 75 and older. The fatality rate was 0.11% for those aged 30-59, 1.28% for those aged 60-74, and 9.58% for those aged 75 and older.

The risk of death progression decreased with vaccination. Compared to unvaccinated confirmed cases, the death progression risk was 69-93% lower in the 2nd vaccination confirmed group and 90-98% lower in the 3rd vaccination confirmed group. The fatality rate was 1.39% for unvaccinated confirmed cases, 0.58% for the 2nd vaccination confirmed group, and 0.27% for the 3rd vaccination confirmed group.

The health authorities stated, "These results reaffirm the effectiveness and importance of COVID-19 vaccination," and urged once again to get vaccinated according to the recommended schedule.

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