S. Korean Prime Minister encourages elderly to get flu vaccine as public anxiety grows over vaccine's safety
  • 3 years ago
정총리 고령자 독감 백신 접종 독려하기로... 그러나 독감 백신 맞은 대전 80대와 제주 60대 숨져

Several people have died in South Korea shortly after receiving their annual flu vaccine.
Health authorities have said that they are yet to find a link between the vaccine and the deaths, but public anxiety over the flu shots is growing.
Our Han Seong-woo has the details.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun in a briefing on Wednesday said that he would take the initiative to encourage the elderly to get vaccinated against the flu.
"I too will be on site today to check how flu shots are being carried out and see if there's anything to improve."
But public concern over the safety of the seasonal flu vaccines is mounting as several people died after getting the shot.
On Tuesday, a man in his 80s was found dead at his home in Daejeon,... several hours after being vaccinated.
Public health officials are currently looking into whether he had any pre-existing health conditions.
On the same day, a woman in her 70s was found dead in Gochang, Jeollabuk-do Province.
On Wednesday, a man on Jeju Island was also found dead after getting his flu shot.
He was known to have severely high blood pressure.
Not all received the same type of flu shot.
Possible links between the deaths and the seasonal vaccines are under epidemiological investigation but there is no confirmed causality as of now.
The other 99 people who received flu shots at the same health clinic as with the Gochang woman have not reported any critical reactions according to local health authorities.
So far, the country has seen five deaths with suspected links to the shots.
Han Seong-woo, Arirang News.
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