Although 25 people have died, the flu vaccination program in South Korea continues

ILLUSTRATION. A woman gets the flu vaccine at a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, October 21, 2020.

Source: Yonhap, Yonhap | Editor: SS Kurniawan

KONTAN.CO.ID – SEOUL. South Korean health authorities stressed that the seasonal flu vaccination program will continue, even though there have been more deaths after receiving the vaccine injection.

“There are more cases of death reported. However, experts are of the opinion, there is no direct link between deaths and vaccinations,” said Jeong Eun-kyeong, Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Thursday (22/10). quoted by the news agency Yonhap.

As of Thursday (22/10) at 4:00 p.m. local time, the number of people who died after being vaccinated in the past few days was 25 compared to 12 people recorded at the start of the vaccination program, according to KDCA.

Of the 25 deaths, 22 or 88% were people aged 60 or over. However, if you include data from the provincial government, the number of deaths reaches 28 people.

South Korea is deploying a seasonal flu vaccination program targeting 19 million people, including teenagers and the elderly, to curb the possibility of a “twindemic”, a pandemic of the new coronavirus and seasonal flu.

Also Read: The number of victims who died after being injected with the flu vaccine in South Korea is increasing

Jeong said a thorough investigation was undertaken by KDCA to find the exact cause of death, as well as epidemiological investigations including autopsies on nine cases.

Only, KDCA said, two deaths may have been related to anaphylactic shock, a serious allergic reaction after immunization.

Prevent potential “twindemic”

The free vaccination program expanded this year in an effort to prevent potential “twindemics” during winter, involving five major drug manufacturers including GC Pharma and Ilyang Pharmaceutical Co.

Jeong said the vaccines given to the people who died were produced by five companies, and all of them had different serial numbers. He denies allegations of possible side effects, such as toxicity.

Earlier, South Korean Health Minister Park Neung-hoo sought to ease growing public anxiety over flu vaccinations, stressing that the free program would go ahead as planned.

Also Read: A 17 year old teenager died after being injected with the seasonal flu vaccine in South Korea

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