COVID-19 Vaccination Rate Among Elderly Over 40% "Must Get Vaccinated as Weather Gets Chilly"
More than 4 out of 10 elderly people aged 65 and over have completed their COVID-19 vaccination.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 18th that as of the 15th, the COVID-19 vaccination rate for those aged 65 and over was 41.5%, about 6 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
The vaccination rate was about 30% for those aged 65 to 69 and close to 50% for those aged 70 and above.
The COVID-19 positivity rate is on a declining trend.
According to the KDCA's weekly respiratory virus report, in the 45th week (November 3?9), the COVID-19 virus detection rate reported by 106 medical institutions and 18 provincial health and environment research institutes was 5.2%, down from 5.6% in the 44th week.
The detection rates over the past four weeks were 6.9% in the 42nd week, 5.1% in the 43rd week, 5.6% in the 44th week, and 5.2% in the 45th week, showing a slight increase in the 44th week before returning to a downward trend.
A KDCA official stated, "Although the COVID-19 positivity rate is decreasing, the weather is getting colder, which is a period when respiratory infectious diseases can generally increase." He added, "For those aged 65 and over or immunocompromised individuals, COVID-19 infection can lead to severe complications, so we once again emphasize completing vaccination within this month."
The national COVID-19 vaccination targets include elderly people aged 65 and over, immunocompromised individuals aged 6 months and older, and high-risk groups such as residents and inpatients of infection-vulnerable facilities.
Immunocompromised infants and young children (aged 6 months to 4 years) have been able to receive the pediatric Pfizer JN.1 vaccine since the 11th of this month.
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Elderly people aged 65 and over can receive the JN.1 vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax), which is effective against the recently circulating COVID-19 variants, simultaneously with the influenza (flu) vaccine.
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