모더나 "부스터샷 맞으면 오미크론 중화항체 37배 증가"
We begin with the COVID-19 situation in South Korea.
As the virus continue to spread nationwide, hospitals are really feeling the strain due to the increase of patients, particularly those who are critically ill amid the shortage of ICU beds.
For more COVID-19 related updates, we have our reporter Kim Yeon-seung in the studio with us, welcome Yeon-seung
Good morning
The government is doing what it can to alleviate the burden on medical staff. Tell us more.
Well Mark, it's quite a dire situation out there.
Hospitals are barely keeping their heads above water with the influx of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Seoul National University, for example, is pivoting into an emergency system,... and is focusing on acquiring more ICU beds and treating critically ill patients.
They're also postponing non-emergency spine, joint, brain, and heart surgeries because there's little room left in intensive care units.
But this hospital isn't the only one forced to make this choice.
I had a chance to talk to a medical frontline worker yesterday afternoon.
Take a listen to what he said.
"Hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province are probably all going through a similar situation. We need ICU units to care for patients after surgery, but because there are no more units left, we can't perform surgeries."
The South Korean government has put down special orders to create extra breathing room for the struggling healthcare system.
It's urging hospitals in the capital to transition into special COVID-19 care facilities and deploying army doctors and public health specialists to COVID-19 medical frontlines.
But a medical expert says that these efforts won't cut it.
According to this expert, the extra personnel being deployed are often not fit to care for critically ill patients,...
and the extra beds acquired are not nearly enough to accommodate not only the COVID-19 patients but also the overflow of patients that tend to increase during the winter.
Instead,... this expert claims that the government needs to help in other ways.
"There needs to be a computerized system that helps manage the patients' beds. There also needs to be more funding allocated to hospitals so that they can run the quarantining units."
Right, well where do we stand in terms of the latest COVID-19 tally?
The numbers slightly shifted down from Sunday night's tally.
Health authorities logged 4-thousand-239 new COVID infections up to 9 PM Monday 9, which is more than 650 cases fewer than the tally marked on the same time Sunday.
Okay, let's move on to vaccines. There's a new study on the horizon...
Yes Mark, a study from Moderna showed some positive results in regards to providing protection against Omicron.
Moderna said Monday that the company's lab tests showed that after a half-dose booster shot, the level of neutralizing antibodies that are able to fight against the Omicron strain... jumped by 37 times.
A half-dose booster is typically administered to most people.
But a full-dose shot, usually given to people with a weakened immune system, showed even more promising results in antibody levels.
A full-dose triggered an 83-fold increase in antibody levels, but it did accompany extra risks in terms of vaccine side effects.
It's important to note that these test results are just preliminary and have not yet gone through comprehensive scientific review.
Also, antibody levels are just one indicator used to predict vaccine protection, and they do not speak for the entire efficacy and immune protection of the vaccines.
Right and Europe just paved the way for a new vaccine to battle the climb in infections, is that right?
Fill us in.
The European Union just gave the greenlight to the Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 18 and older.
The European Medicines Agency, or the EMA, said that the vaccine showed 90 percent efficacy, while its protection against some variant strains, including Omicron is still unclear.
Yet, Europe's health officials paved the way for the new vaccine in the region to encourage anyone who's not been vaccinated or boosted,... to battle the spiking COVID infections.
According to the EU, the two dose vaccine from Novavax has passed the commission's rigorous standards of efficacy, quality, and safety.
Novavax from next January will start shipping up to 200 million doses to the EU's 27 member states.
Right, hopefully the newly approved vaccines will help boost protection in the region.
Thank you for that report, Yeon-seung.
We'll see you back here Wednesday.
#COVID19 #Moderna #Omicron
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2021-12-21, 08:00 (KST)
