[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The quarantine authorities stated that there is no research yet showing that the Delta variant increases 'breakthrough infections'?cases confirmed after vaccination. Regarding some claims that the Janssen vaccine is vulnerable to breakthrough infections, they explained that it is difficult to make relative comparisons due to differing conditions for each vaccine.
On the 5th, Park Young-jun, head of the epidemiological investigation team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said at the regular COVID-19 briefing, "There is no research result yet indicating that the Delta variant increases breakthrough infections," adding, "While there are reports that the Delta variant itself has strong transmissibility and may increase hospitalization rates, there are no reports that breakthrough infections occur more frequently among vaccinated individuals."
Park explained, "Considering the increasing proportion of fully vaccinated individuals and the rising share of the Delta variant among the types of COVID-19 viruses occurring domestically, it is expected that the share of the Delta variant will also increase among breakthrough infection cases."
He said, "The important part is to comparatively evaluate how many cases occur among unvaccinated people and how many of those are the Delta variant, and how many breakthrough infections occur among fully vaccinated people and how many of those are the Delta variant."
Regarding views doubting the necessity of vaccination due to the recent increase in breakthrough infection cases, Park stated, "The current breakthrough infection rate is low at 0.018%," adding, "It occurs at a rate of 17 cases per 100,000 fully vaccinated people."
Park said, "Rather than doubting the effectiveness of vaccination because some breakthrough infection cases have occurred, it is necessary to look at how many cases have occurred among unvaccinated people."
He emphasized that there is no related research yet supporting the view that the Janssen vaccine is vulnerable to the Delta variant.
Park said, "(Regarding Janssen) since the target population for vaccination is different, we can only say that the breakthrough infection rate appears relatively higher compared to other vaccines at this time," adding, "The Janssen vaccine is mainly administered to people under their 50s, and the age group with the most cases currently in Korea is the middle-aged under 50s. This age group tends to be more active, so they may have more exposure opportunities."
He added, "It is difficult to make relative evaluations of breakthrough infection rates and impacts by vaccine type because the conditions differ."
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