One in Four COVID-19 Deaths Occur in Nursing Hospitals... "Focus on Vaccination for High-Risk Groups"

Winter Resurgence Intensifies Increasing Risks for Elderly
Support for Proxy Registration and Mobile Vaccination Teams

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the winter resurgence of COVID-19 intensifies and deaths increase mainly among the elderly, the government has launched efforts to raise vaccination rates through proxy reservations and on-site vaccinations.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 12th, among severe COVID-19 patients in the first week of November, those aged 60 and over accounted for 86.8%, and among COVID-19 deaths, those aged 60 and over accounted for 95.1%.

In particular, 21.3% of COVID-19 deaths occurred in nursing hospitals. In the recent four-week tally, 159 deaths occurred in nursing hospitals, accounting for 22.5% of all COVID-19 deaths.

However, as of the 10th, the additional vaccination rate for the winter season among those aged 60 and over who need booster shots after four months since their last vaccination was only 10.5%. The overall vaccination rate for those aged 60 and over was 6.3%. Among residents and workers in infection-vulnerable facilities such as nursing hospitals, nursing facilities, and mental health promotion facilities, only 7.7% had completed vaccination.

The quarantine authorities currently report that the risk of death for those who have received the fourth dose of the vaccine is 94.3% lower than for the unvaccinated, and that the bivalent vaccine has 1.6 to 2.6 times higher infection prevention effectiveness against variants compared to the existing vaccine. This is why additional vaccination is essential for the elderly and those with underlying conditions who are vulnerable to infection.

Accordingly, the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team has decided to support vaccination convenience by cooperating with related ministries, local governments, and affiliated organizations to increase vaccination rates among infection-vulnerable facilities and the elderly.

First, to make it easier for the elderly to get vaccinated, proxy reservation desks for the elderly will be set up at administrative welfare centers, and on-site vaccination will be made possible at medical institutions without prior reservation through the website or same-day reservation via private SNS platforms such as Naver and Kakao if the desired vaccine is available. Elderly individuals can receive vaccination immediately after their vaccination records are verified by simply bringing their ID to the medical institution.

A representative from the Promotion Team explained, "Since there is currently a sufficient supply of vaccines, we plan to actively use the surplus to provide same-day vaccination to those who wish and to allow patients visiting medical institutions for other treatments to be vaccinated immediately if they desire."

For elderly individuals with mobility difficulties or residents of infection-vulnerable facilities, public health center visiting vaccination teams will administer vaccines on-site. Park Hyang, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters' quarantine team at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "We will assess the status of visiting vaccination teams by city and province and increase the operation period or personnel if more teams are needed according to local circumstances."