Double Threat Looms: Experts Warn of Devastating Winter Flu and COVID-19 Outbreaks – Vaccination is Key to Survival

“I think there is little chance that COVID-19 will spread to the level of a pandemic again. However, like the winter influenza (flu) epidemic, the pattern of a sudden increase in the number of patients through vulnerable groups will continue to repeat.”

Jeong Hee-jin, director of Korea University Guro Hospital, predicted in a recent interview with the Maeil Business Newspaper, “Corona will become an endemic respiratory infectious disease that continues to cause patients who still need prevention and treatment.”

He emphasized that there is still a great need for coronavirus vaccination, especially in high-risk groups. Director Jeong said, “The recent vaccination is not intended to completely block the spread of the coronavirus or prevent everyone from becoming infected with the coronavirus,” and added, “Even if they get it, they will be mildly ill or have a high risk of dying from the coronavirus. “The vaccination is for the purpose of prevention,” he said.

There are many cases where young people take the coronavirus lightly and are passive about getting vaccinated. However, Director Jeong explains that age is only one of the indicators for determining high-risk groups. He said, “Not all young people should get the coronavirus vaccine,” and added, “However, even among young people, those with a weak immune system, such as those with a disease, should get the vaccine.”

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency began vaccination against the coronavirus for the 2024-2025 season on the 11th. High-risk groups such as seniors over 65 years of age, immunocompromised people over 6 months old, and those hospitalized or residents of facilities vulnerable to infection can receive vaccinations for free until April 30 of next year. Those who wish to be vaccinated can do so for a fee. The vaccine used this time was developed in response to JN.1, the parent strain of the currently prevalent KP.2 and KP.3 mutations.

Currently, in Korea, you can get the coronavirus vaccines manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax. There are two types of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) type vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna, and one type of genetic recombination type vaccine made by Novavax. All three vaccines have been approved by major domestic and foreign regulatory agencies, and their effectiveness against cross-vaccination has been verified. If you are reluctant to get vaccinated due to concerns about the mRNA vaccine, you can choose a genetic recombinant vaccine.

Concerns are also being raised about a ‘twin pandemic’ in which the flu and coronavirus, which are prevalent all year round, are prevalent at the same time ahead of winter. Starting with children on the 20th of last month, flu vaccinations are already underway for seniors over 65 years of age from the 11th of this month. The government is currently recommending simultaneous vaccination of flu and coronavirus vaccines for the elderly. The simultaneous vaccination rate of the two vaccines is more than three times that of the same period last year.

Some voices are concerned about the safety of receiving flu and coronavirus vaccines at the same time. Regarding this, Director Jeong drew the line at “unscientific concerns.” He said, “If the safety of each vaccine is guaranteed, the risk does not increase even if you take both vaccines together. However, we are monitoring because symptoms such as fever that appear due to individual vaccinations may become more severe due to simultaneous vaccination.” .

Previously, our quarantine authorities also confirmed through domestic and overseas research that there are no problems with immunity formation and safety when receiving the corona and flu vaccines simultaneously. In the 2022-2023 season, the adverse reaction reporting rate (0.04%) among the 240,000 people over the age of 65 who received both corona and flu vaccines was confirmed to be 40% lower than the adverse reaction reporting rate (0.07%) among those who received the corona vaccine alone (8.8 million).

The flu vaccines currently administered in Korea are divided into fertilized egg culture and cell culture based on the manufacturing method. The traditional method, the fertilized egg method, produces a vaccine by inserting the flu virus into fertilized chicken eggs. Recently, efforts have been made to manufacture flu vaccines using cell culture methods that do not use fertilized eggs. Currently, SK Bioscience’s flu vaccine is the only one in Korea made using cell culture.

Director Jeong said, “fertile egg culture vaccines have been used for a long time, so they have a greatly expanded infrastructure and have the advantage of being a proven platform,” adding, “On the other hand, cell culture vaccines are free from problems related to egg supply and demand, and do not use antibiotics or preservatives. “It can be said to be a more advanced technology,” he said.

Above all, using cell culture vaccines can avoid virus mutations caused by the use of fertilized eggs during the manufacturing process. Normally, flu vaccines are produced every year according to the list of flu vaccine strains predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be prevalent in that year, and flu vaccines manufactured using cell culture methods have a high degree of consistency with prevalent virus types. Director Jeong said, “The H3N2 virus, which is the main antigen of the flu vaccine, has a higher risk of mutation in the fertilized egg method, so there was a disappointment that the flu vaccine was less effective than expected even after getting the flu vaccine every time.” He added, “Especially for people who need the vaccine to be more effective. “A cell culture vaccine with a high match to the virus type is meaningful,” he explained.

In addition to the flu and coronavirus vaccines, it is also worth considering getting the whooping cough vaccine. Director Jeong said, “Among respiratory infectious disease vaccines, whooping cough is also continuing to be a small-scale epidemic,” adding, “Whooping cough can also appear in adults in the form of coughing, but there are cases where it is transmitted to children through parents or grandparents, so we must pay attention to vaccination.” He said.

[김지희 기자]