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SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean authorities on Thursday refused to suspend the country’s seasonal flu vaccination program, despite growing calls to do so following the deaths of at least 13 people who were vaccinated in recent days.
Health authorities said they have found no direct links between the deaths, which include a 17-year-old boy, and the vaccines given as part of a program to inoculate some 19 million adolescents and the elderly for free.
“The number of deaths has increased, but our team sees little chance that the deaths are the result of the shooting,” Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA), told parliament.
South Korea ordered 20% more flu vaccines this year to avoid what it calls a “twindemism” of people with influenza who develop potential complications from COVID-19 and burden hospitals during the winter.
“I understand and regret that people are concerned about the vaccine,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said Thursday, confirming that the free program would go ahead.
“We are investigating the causes, but again we will thoroughly examine the entire process involving various government agencies, from production to distribution,” he added.
The country’s free vaccine program uses doses made by local drug makers GC Pharma, SK Bioscience and Ilyang Pharmaceutical Co, along with France’s Sanofi.
GC Pharma, LG Chem, SK Bioscience and Boryung declined to comment. Ilyang Pharmaceutical, Sanofi and GSK did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It was not immediately clear if any of the vaccines made in South Korea were exported or if those supplied by Sanofi and GSK were also being used in other countries.
Kim Chong-in, leader of the main opposition party, People’s Power, said the program must be stopped until the exact causes of the deaths have been verified.
Health officials said Wednesday that a preliminary investigation into six deaths found no direct connection to the vaccines. No toxic substances were found in the vaccines and at least five of the six people investigated had underlying conditions, authorities said.
PREVIOUS SUSPENSION
The free program has been controversial since its launch last month. Its initiation was suspended for three weeks after it was discovered that some 5 million doses, which need to be refrigerated, had been exposed to room temperature while being transported to a medical facility.
Authorities said 8.3 million people had been inoculated since the program resumed on Oct. 13, and about 350 cases of adverse reactions were reported.
The government is also offering a paid vaccine program that, combined with the free program, aims to inoculate about 30 million of the country’s 52 million people. Under the paid program, the buyer can select the vaccine provider from a larger group that includes free vaccine manufacturers and others.
The highest number of deaths in South Korea related to seasonal flu vaccination was six in 2005, according to the Yonhap news agency. Officials have said it is difficult to make comparisons with previous years due to the greater number of people taking the vaccine this year.
Kim Myung-suk, 65, who is eligible for a free vaccine, was among a growing number of people choosing to exercise.
“Although only a few people have died so far, the number is growing and that worries me,” he told Reuters in Seoul. “So I’m going to get an injection somewhere else and pay for it.”
(Information from Hyonhee Shin; additional information from Sangmi Cha, Dogyun Kim, and Daewoung Kim; edited by Jane Wardell)
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