Anxiety over flu shots after nine mysterious deaths
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA— South Korean authorities are investigating the mysterious deaths of nine people after they had been vaccinated against seasonal influenza. And although officials said there was no clear link between the deaths and the vaccinations, there was worry that the cases could cause panic at a critical time for vaccination efforts.
The deaths happened over the past week, including five reported Wednesday. Officials said two of the deaths might have resulted from anaphylactic shock, a serious allergic reaction that can follow vaccination.
The other deaths are under investigation, but officials were quick to rule out the vaccines themselves as the main cause.
They also vowed to step up a government flu-vaccination campaign to prevent the country’s health-care system from being overloaded with flu patients — who have similar early symptoms like fever and cough — amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have not found a direct connection between these deaths and vaccines, or a relationship between the deaths and adverse effects reported after flu shots,” said Jung Eunkyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
“We don’t think that the situation calls for the suspending of the inoculation program.”
South Korea, and many other countries, have seen annual flu inoculation programs as critical to efforts to also deal with the coronavirus.
But the campaign ran into trouble last month when it was discovered that some vaccines supplied by a local company, which needed to be refrigerated at all times, had been exposed to room temperature while being transported.
A recall was ordered, and officials said about 2,300 people had received doses from the faulty batch.
Then, this month, 615,000 doses of a flu vaccine shipped by another company were also recalled after some of them were found to contain white particles, which the government described as being a harmless protein.
Almost 18,000 people had received doses before they were recalled.