Contact-adjusted Immunity Levels against SARS-CoV-2 in Korea and Prospects for Achieving Herd Immunity.
J Korean Med Sci
; 36(38): e272, 2021 Oct 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1450797
ABSTRACT
The proportion of population vaccinated cannot be directly translated into the herd immunity. We have to account for the age-stratified contact patterns to calculate the population immunity level, since not every individual gathers evenly. Here, we calculated the contact-adjusted population immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in South Korea using age-specific incidence and vaccine uptake rate. We further explored options to achieve the theoretical herd immunity with age-varying immunity scenarios. As of June 21, 2021, when a quarter of the population received at least one dose of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, the contact-adjusted immunity level was 12.5% under the social distancing level 1. When 80% of individuals aged 10 years and over gained immunity, we could achieve a 58.2% contact-adjusted immunity level. The pros and cons of vaccinating children should be weighed since the risks of COVID-19 for the young are less than the elderly, and the long-term safety of vaccines is still obscure.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mass Vaccination
/
Immunity, Herd
/
COVID-19 Vaccines
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
J Korean Med Sci
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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