[Asia Economy reporters Seo So-jeong and Jo Hyun-ui] Voices are rising mainly from the opposition demanding that all influenza (flu) vaccines exposed to room temperature be discarded. This is because bold action is necessary to ensure the safety of the public.
Experts agree that exposure to room temperature itself is serious, but they unanimously stated that whether to discard the vaccines is a "matter to be judged scientifically." The general consensus is that vaccines exposed to room temperature are not likely to cause side effects but rather become 'placebo injections' that do not perform their intended function.
Jeon Byung-yul, former director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 24th, "Vaccines exposed to room temperature are like placebo injections," adding, "They are supposed to enter the body and produce antibodies, but the antigen is destroyed beforehand, so they have no efficacy."
He explained that exposure to room temperature itself does not cause side effects. Professor Kim Woo-joo of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital said, "Unless contaminated by bacteria or external substances due to damage, placebo injections themselves do not cause side effects."
The opposition and some medical circles are insisting on discarding all the vaccines. Kang Ki-yoon, a member of the National Assembly and the Health and Welfare Committee's People Power Party whip, said the day before, "Even if there are vaccines without abnormalities, which citizen would want to receive such vaccines?" demanding complete disposal and reproduction. The Korean Association of Private Practitioners also stated on the same day, "It is unacceptable to proceed with vaccination if there are no particular problems based on sample inspections," advocating for disposal.
There are calls for scientific judgment on this matter. Former director Jeon said, "There are research results showing no problems even after two weeks of exposure to room temperature," adding, "If the claim by Sinseong Pharmaceutical that it was a 'short exposure time' is correct, the vaccine proteins would likely not be destroyed," which is the prevailing view.
Professor Kim also said, "The key is to prove how long the vaccine was exposed to room temperature," adding, "Generally, vaccines exposed to room temperature are considered to have reduced efficacy and are discarded, but this time, due to the large quantity, it will be difficult to discard them all at once."
The government is judging that there is no major problem based on vaccine safety test data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012. According to the data, inactivated influenza vaccines are safe for 2 to 4 weeks at 25 degrees Celsius and for 24 hours at temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius.
Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, said at the National Assembly's Welfare Committee the day before, "The problematic vaccines were transported outside the refrigerated truck for less than an hour, realistically within 10 minutes," adding, "There is no need for excessive anxiety or worry."
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety plans to inspect 3.5 million doses of the problematic vaccines. Moon Eun-hee, head of the Biologics Quality Control Division at the Ministry, responded, "In addition to protein content, we are conducting quality inspections on all items to verify overall safety-related quality."
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