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South Korea's health authorities on Monday confirmed the country's second vaccine-linked death, as a man in his 20s who received the first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine died last month.
The man, who received the shot on June 7, died at a hospital six days later after suffering cardiac arrest, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The victim did not have any underlying disease.
Local authorities carried out an autopsy and later confirmed that the victim suffered from inflammation of the heart muscle, or myocarditis.
It marked the second time for local health authorities to acknowledge death after vaccination.
"Although it is very rare, mRNA vaccines can lead to side effects such as heart inflammation," a local health official said.
The country has been administering four types of vaccines ― AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen. Of them, those of Pfizer and Moderna are based on the mRNA technology.
South Korea reported its first vaccine-related death on June 21, when another man in his 30s died of a rare case of blood clotting after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
So far, South Korea has also investigated 551 cases in which those who received COVID-19 vaccines fell seriously ill. Of the cases studied, health authorities acknowledged that five cases were related to vaccines.
The country, meanwhile, has fully vaccinated around 13.4 percent of its population. Around 33 percent of the people received at least one shot as well.
On Monday, the country added 1,318 COVID-19 cases, including 1,264 local infections, raising the total caseload to 190,166. (Yonhap)