According to the Korea Herald, one million doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine have arrived, and the reservation for the doses of Janssen vaccine logged 900,000 within just 18 hours. That much, people have a great need of vaccination to hope for the end of the pandemic.

▲ Janssen COVID-19 vaccines has arrived.

COVID-19 vaccination was started on Feb. 26, 2021. It was been a year and 37 days since the first COVID-19 confirmed cases have occurred. The first inoculator of the COVID-19 vaccine in South Korea is Lee Gyeong-soon, who is a care worker in a sanatorium in Seoul. Then, the government announced the vaccination plan. In the first quarter, the workers in high-risk medical institutions will be vaccinated such as the hospitals which have confirmed cases of COVID-19. In the second quarter, all workers in medical institutions and people over 65 will be vaccinated. In the third quarter, normal adults will be vaccinated, and in the fourth quarter, people will get a boost injection.

▲ Chart shows that there are side effects on COVID-19 vaccine.

However, a vaccine is not the perfect solution for COVID-19. It has side effects such as fever, tiredness, headache, and many more. Also, these effects are common to people who have been vaccinated. According to Yonhap, the number of symptoms of the COVID-19 vaccine is about 22,000 cases. Most symptoms are slight, however, there are some serious symptoms. Also, there are people who died after getting vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. For instance, according to a media. there are 14 deaths after injecting the COVID-19 vaccine in three days. The safety of a vaccine is not 100 percent, and the effect of a vaccine is not 100 percent. Also, the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the most common vaccine in South Korea, has a 70 percent prevention effect, while Pfizer and Moderna vaccine has over 90 percent prevention effect.

The COVID-19 vaccine is free because the government encourages people to be vaccinated. We should be vaccinated as soon as possible so that herd immunity is formed, and we hope to get out of this COVID-19 pandemic.

By Yejun Byun