South Korea: Suspicious deaths of 59 people vaccinated against influenza worry
In South Korea, fifty-nine people died within days of being inoculated with the flu vaccine.
(Illustrative Image) Warren Ruda / Standard-Speaker via AP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In South Korea, fifty-nine people died within days of being inoculated with the flu vaccine.
The government claims that there is currently no established link between the vaccine and the deaths, but this still increases public mistrust.
However, the South Korean authorities wanted to immunize a large part of the population.
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With our correspondent in Seoul
,
Nicolas Rocca
The flu vaccine campaign was supposed to be free and massive this year in South Korea.
Nineteen million people immunized, an ambitious goal, but which could be called into question by these suspicious deaths.
For Dr. Anh Wartel, in charge of clinical trials at the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, the increase in the number of vaccines explains the increase in side effects.
She wants to be reassuring: “
There are several types of flu vaccines in South Korea.
They did not find
clusters
, that is to say deaths grouped together for a particular vaccine.
It is quite diffuse in the sense that they have reviewed the cases and there is no demonstrated causality.
"
Avoid a double pandemic
There is no proven link between vaccines and deaths, but it is not enough so far to curb concerns.
Two types of vaccines used in South Korea have been withdrawn in Singapore.
Being immunized against the flu, however, is to facilitate the work of doctors, who could be faced with two epidemics this winter.
“
It allows doctors to sort out what is linked to Covid-19 and what is linked to the flu, if someone has been vaccinated.
So, it still allows a much more optimal management to sort between the different respiratory infections that we see during the winter period
”, specifies Dr. Wartel.
A benefit that the government does not want to do without, which is maintaining its vaccination campaign.
South Korea, set up as an example for its
management of the Covid-19 pandemic
, wishes to face the winter prepared in the face of a possible resurgence of the virus.
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To read also: China: the fear of the double pandemic, flu and coronavirus
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Coronavirus
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