Korea Disease Control Agency and National Health Insurance Service Jointly Publish First 'Influenza Report'... "81% Mortality Prevention Among Elderly"

by Kwak Minjae

Published 17 Apr.2026 15:31(KST)

The mortality prevention effect of influenza (flu) vaccination was found to be as high as 81% among the elderly population.

Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Yonhap News Agency

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the National Health Insurance Service announced on April 17 that they have jointly published the first National Influenza Annual Report for the 2024-2025 season. This is based on a big data analysis linking vaccination records and health insurance claims data from both institutions.

According to the report, the mortality prevention effect of the influenza vaccine was estimated to range from 38.1% to 81.1%, depending on study design and age group. The prevention effect against severe disease ranged from 63.7% to 74.6%, and the infection prevention effect ranged from 10.2% to 41.4%. It was also analyzed that vaccination prevented 143,868 hospital and outpatient cases and 3,506 deaths during the flu season.

However, the infection prevention effect among the elderly was low, at less than 20%. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency explained that, since the effectiveness of vaccination can vary due to factors such as the recipient's age and health condition, the agency plans to closely monitor trends through ongoing evaluation.

For the 2024-2025 season, the proportion of suspected influenza cases peaked at 99.8 per 1,000 patients in the first week of 2025. This is the highest figure since 2016. Children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 led the outbreak, and a small secondary wave was also observed in March. The number of hospital admissions at hospital-level institutions reached 1,632 in the second week of 2025, 48.2% higher than the peak of the previous season. By age group, those aged 65 and older accounted for 52.4% of all hospitalizations throughout the season.

Based on health insurance claims, there were approximately 3.86 million influenza cases (8,200 cases per 100,000 population), a decrease compared to the previous season. The total medical expense for influenza care was 629.5 billion won, of which hospitalizations accounted for 486.8 billion won (77.3%) and outpatient care for 142.7 billion won (22.7%). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, these medical expenses have continued to rise.

The national vaccination rate was 70.0% (about 3.42 million) among children aged 6 months to 13 years, 81.6% (about 8.39 million) among those aged 65 and older, and a total of about 160,000 pregnant women received vaccinations.

Im Seungkwan, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, stated, "It is very meaningful that the two institutions, which hold the most comprehensive health information, have produced the first results on influenza, which has the highest disease burden." He added, "Through continued cooperation, we will further strengthen influenza prevention and management policies by activating the production of evidence based on big data."