59 Deaths After Flu Vaccination... "Low Causality, Vaccination Continues" (Update)

On the 26th, when the government resumed free influenza vaccinations for seniors aged 62 to 69, citizens lined up in front of a hospital in Seoul to receive their flu shots. After restarting free vaccinations on September 25 for those aged 12 and under and pregnant women, on October 13 for those aged 13 to 18, and on the 19th for those aged 70 and above, this marks the final age group for the resumed vaccinations. Regarding the recent 48 deaths following flu vaccinations, the government announced on the 23rd that there is no correlation and that vaccinations will continue. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The cumulative number of deaths following influenza (flu) vaccination has risen to 59. The government stated that no direct causal relationship between vaccination and death has been confirmed and decided to proceed with the vaccination schedule as planned.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on the 26th, the number of deaths after flu vaccination was counted as 59 as of midnight that day. This is an increase of 11 compared to the 24th.

Most of the deceased are elderly aged 60 and above. By age group, those in their 70s are the largest at 26, followed by those aged 80 and above at 26, under 60 at 5, and those in their 60s at 2. Those aged 60 and above account for 54 people, making up 92% of the total.

Looking at the regional death reports, Gyeongnam has the highest number with 9, followed by Jeonnam with 8, Seoul with 7, Jeonbuk with 6, Gyeongbuk with 6, Daegu with 5, Gyeonggi with 5, Chungnam with 3, Busan with 2, Incheon with 2, Daejeon with 2, Gangwon with 2, Jeju with 1, and Gwangju with 1.

The KDCA held a rapid response meeting of the Vaccine Injury Investigation Team the day before to assess the causality of the 20 newly added deaths.

Among them, there were no cases of 'anaphylaxis,' an acute adverse reaction occurring after vaccination. Besides mild adverse reactions such as pain at the injection site, no severe adverse reactions were identified. Fourteen people who died had received vaccines with the same manufacturing lot number. Among these, no cases were confirmed to have a causal relationship between the vaccine and death.

Previously, the Vaccination Expert Committee reviewed the causes of death for the first 26 deceased and concluded that the causal relationship with vaccination was very low, and it was not at a stage to reconsider specific vaccines or suspend the national immunization program.

The KDCA stated, "Among the 59 reported death cases as of the day before, 46 were judged to have low causality. For the remaining 13 cases under investigation and any additional reported cases, epidemiological investigations will be completed, and the Vaccine Injury Investigation Team will hold meetings to assess causality."

The vaccines related to the reported death cases as of the day before came from 7 manufacturers with 37 manufacturing lot numbers. There were a total of 14 lot numbers with two or more death reports. Park Young-jun, head of the KDCA epidemiological investigation team, said, "There are a total of 36 death reports related to the 14 manufacturing lot numbers."

The Vaccine Injury Investigation Team plans to consider suspending the use of flu vaccines only if two or more cases of severe adverse reactions (including death) that cannot exclude causality with vaccination occur.