Objectives The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency promotes vaccination by regularly providing information on its benefits for reducing the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to analyze the number of averted severe COVID-19 cases and COVID-19-related deaths by age group and quantify the impact of Republic of Korea’s nationwide vaccination campaign.
Methods We analyzed an integrated database from the beginning of the vaccination campaign on February 26, 2021 to October 15, 2022. We estimated the cumulative number of severe cases and COVID-19-related deaths over time by comparing observed and estimated cases among unvaccinated and vaccinated groups using statistical modeling. We compared daily age-adjusted rates of severe cases and deaths in the unvaccinated group to those in the vaccinated group and calculated the susceptible population and proportion of vaccinated people by age.
Results There were 23,793 severe cases and 25,441 deaths related to COVID-19. We estimated that 119,579 (95% confidence interval [CI], 118,901–120,257) severe COVID-19 cases and 137,636 (95% CI, 136,909–138,363) COVID-19-related deaths would have occurred if vaccination had not been performed. Therefore, 95,786 (95% CI, 94,659–96,913) severe cases and 112,195 (95% CI, 110,870–113,520) deaths were prevented as a result of the vaccination campaign.
Conclusion We found that, if the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign had not been implemented, the number of severe cases and deaths would have been at least 4 times higher. These findings suggest that Republic of Korea’s nationwide vaccination campaign reduced the number of severe cases and COVID-19 deaths.
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Assessing the determinants of influenza and COVID-19 vaccine co-administration decisions in the elderly Seunghyun Lewis Kwon, So-Yeon Kim, Minju Song, Hyung-Min Lee, Seon-Hwa Ban, Mi-Soon Lee, Hyesun Jeong Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
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Objectives We estimated the overall and age-specific percentages of the Korean population
with presumed immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) as of April 2022 using the national registry.
Methods We used the national coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and vaccination
registry from South Korea, as described to define individuals with a previous history of
COVID-19 infection, vaccination, or both, as persons with presumed immunity.
Results Of a total of 53,304,627 observed persons, 24.4% had vaccination and infection, 58.1%
had vaccination and no infection, 7.6% had infection and no vaccination, and 9.9% had no
immunity. The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emerged at a time when the presumed population
immunity ranged from 80% to 85%; however, nearly half of the children were presumed to
have no immunity.
Conclusion We report a gap in population immunity, with lower presumed protection in
children than in adults. The approach presented in this work can provide valuable informed
tools to assist vaccine policy-making at a national level.
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Objectives
Food- and water-borne disease outbreaks (FBDOs) are an important public health problem worldwide. This study investigated the trends in FBDOs in Korea and established emerging causal pathogens and causal vehicles. Methods
We analyzed FBDOs in Korea by year, location, causal pathogens, and causal vehicles from 2007 to 2012. Information was collected from the FBDOs database in the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results
During 2007–2012, a total of 1794 FBDOs and 48,897 patients were reported. After 2007, FBDOs and patient numbers steadily decreased over the next 2 years and then plateaued until 2011. However, in 2012, FBDOs increased slightly accompanied by a large increase in the number of affected patients. Our results highlight the emergence of norovirus and pathogenic Escherichia coli other than enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) in schools in 2012. We found that pickled vegetables is an emerging causal vehicle responsible for this problem. Conclusion
On the basis of this study we recommend intensified inspections of pickled vegetable manufacturers and the strengthening of laboratory surveillance of relevant pathogens.
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