[Young journalist Sookyung Her] As the cold wind starts to blow, many people pay close attention to their parents’ respiratory health. Many of them stop at the point where they ask their parents that they had their flu vaccination.

However, the flu vaccination alone cannot prevent all severe winter respiratory infections.

Kim Leehyung, the director of internal medicine clinic(Pulmonologist), said “Elderly people face a higher risk of respiratory infection developing into severe illnesses such as pneumonia.” and “It’s recommended to plan not only influenza, but also pneumococcus, Respiratory Syncytial Virus(RSV), and Herpes zoster vaccination considering the person’s age and underlying diseases.”

Firstly, since influenza vaccination takes approximately 2 weeks to form protective immunity, vaccination should be completed before the virus spreads widely. However, getting  vaccination too early could cause the immunity to disappear towards the end of the season. Therefore, the vaccination time should be wisely chosen. Furthermore, annual vaccination is required because of viral mutations and declining immunity.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes symptoms similar to those of influenza, is often hard to recognize because it usually causes cold-like symptoms. Despite its mild symptoms, RSV could lead to severe infections, like pneumonia, for elderly people, people with heart or lung disease, or people that has low immune rate.

The number required of shingles vaccination varies by the vaccine type. The recombinant vaccine is usually given in two doses, 2-6 months apart, and it has shown over 90% prevention among adults aged 50 and older without any problem with their immune system in clinic trials.

Doctor Kim said, “People should check which type of shingles vaccination they got, and how many doses are necessary.”

Another misconception that people have is that “Why did I get pneumonia even though I got the vaccination?”

What people say as ‘pneumonia vaccination’, the pneumococcus vaccination, is not the panacea that prevents all pneumonia in the universe. Pneumonia occurs because of a variety of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The pneumococcus vaccination is a vaccine that only prevents the viruses that have high fatality rate, which are complications such as infection, bacteremia, meningitis caused by pneumococcus.

Doctor Kim said “Pneumococcus vaccination is vaccine for preventing infection caused by pneumococus virus, not a medication for preventing all pneumonia viruses in the universe”, adding “It is important to review not only past vaccination status, but also the type of vaccine received, including conjugate vaccines, and to determine whether it’s time for additional vaccinations.”

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