Settings

ⓕ font-size

  • -2
  • -1
  • 0
  • +1
  • +2

Fears over flu vaccine spread amid more deaths

  • Facebook share button
  • Twitter share button
  • Kakao share button
  • Mail share button
  • Link share button
Jeong Eun-kyeong, chief of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, answers questions over concerns about the safety of seasonal flu shots during a National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee audit of the agency, Thursday. Yonhap
Jeong Eun-kyeong, chief of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, answers questions over concerns about the safety of seasonal flu shots during a National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee audit of the agency, Thursday. Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

Public fear is escalating over the safety of the seasonal flu vaccination after a series of deaths among people who had recently received the vaccination, although the health authorities have said there was no connection.

As of 4 p.m., Thursday, the number of deaths nationwide of people who had been vaccinated against the seasonal influenza increased to 25, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

An increasing number of elderly people here are expressing concerns over the vaccination as most cases were in this age group, although the KDCA repeated that the deaths were not associated with the flu shots.

In addition to the death of a man in his 70s who received the flu vaccine in Incheon, west of Seoul, Thursday, other cases were reported in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province; Imsil, North Jeolla Province; Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province; and Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.

According to Yeonsu Police Station in Incheon, a woman reported that she found her 74-year-old husband dead in his bed at 6:08 a.m.

The police confirmed that the man had been vaccinated against the seasonal flu at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a clinic in Yeonsu District, Incheon. The vaccine the man was administered with was supplied by the KDCA for the free vaccination program for the elderly.

An investigation by the police and health authorities revealed the man had underlying diseases including high blood pressure and diabetes. The police are planning to check whether there is a link between his death and the vaccination through an autopsy.

This is the second death in the Incheon district following that of a 17-year-old high school student on Oct. 16.

Despite the number of deaths, health officials reaffirmed their plan to continue with the free vaccination program. This is because no connection between the vaccination and the deaths has been clearly determined, and so it's too early to make a decision to halt the program.

Asked by Choi Yeon-sook of the People Power Party, during a National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee audit, Thursday, KDCA Director Jeong Eun-kyeong replied "The agency has yet to confirm whether the deaths are related to the vaccination. The epidemiological investigators have expressed their opini
Bahk Eun-ji ejb@koreatimes.co.kr


X
CLOSE

Top 10 Stories

go top LETTER