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first, the second dose was given six months after the second inoculation, but the interval gradually increased, and now it has been reduced to three months. Although it is said to prevent Corona, there are many questions about whether it is medically okay to narrow the vaccination interval like this, whether there will be any side effects, how other countries do it, and so on.



Cho Dong-chan, a medical reporter, will answer that question.



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The number of three months is based on changes in the domestic fatality rate.



The fatality rate, which represents the ratio of deaths to confirmed cases, has accumulated over the past two years and has been 0.8%.



However, when analyzed by month, it peaked at 2% until March, just before the introduction of the vaccine, but it rose to 0.2%, that is, 1/10 level by July when vaccination started and the effect of completing vaccination for the elderly over 60 was seen. fell



After that, it remained at around 0.4% until September, and after three months from July, it rose to the 0.7% range from October and exceeded 1% in November.



This is why the quarantine authorities judged that the vaccine took three months to lose its effectiveness.



It is questionable that 3 months is applied to all age groups.



The third dose is urgently needed because people over the age of 60 account for 95% of deaths.




An official from the quarantine authorities took the UK as an example, and when it was confirmed, the UK pulled only those over 40 years old and young people with risk factors to 3 months.



Israel, which was the first to introduce the third dose, as well as the United States and Canada, the interval between the third dose is 5 or 6 months at all ages.



It is true that the neutralizing antibody drops rapidly 3 months after the completion of inoculation to break through infection, but other cellular immunity effects are maintained for more than 5-6 months to prevent severe cases.



[Ki-Jong Hong / Editor-in-Chief of the Korean Vaccine Society: Even if there is a neutralizing antibody, it does not completely prevent it.

Because it is known that cellular immunity is consistently well maintained, based on future clinical data (to be decided again)]



Side effects from the 3rd dose are rarer and more severe than with the 2nd dose in the US and UK respectively. It has been shown to be mild, but it is contraindicated if severe side effects have occurred up to the 2nd time.



(Video editing: Lee Hong-myeong, VJ: Oh Se-kwan, CG: Shim Soo-hyeon, Kim Jeong-eun, Im Chan-hyuk, Seo Dong-min)