COMPARED TO the United States, Korea has been relatively free of irrational fear of vaccines—but that has been changing due to suspicions that the 2020-21 influenza vaccine is causing deaths. Although chances that the influenza vaccine might be lethal are very slim, irresponsible reporting and miscoordination between professional and government opinions have fanned the panic. The fear of vaccines—if perpetuated past this event—and the vulnerabilities in the medical transportation system could jeopardize us from receiving safety from COVID-19 and other future diseases.

A vaccine-death reporting algorithm

   It began on October 19 2:30 p.m. when Yeonhap News released a one-line article based on Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA) briefing: “[Breaking] Teen dead after being administered influenza vaccine…cause of death under investigation.” On the same day, over 300 other short articles were published about the case, such as MoneyToday’s “[Breaking] 17-year old dies after taking influenza vaccine…government claims “there is no causal correlation but investigating”. The next day, Chosun Ilbo’s headline read “18-year-old who had Free Influenza Vaccine Suffers Sudden Death…Government Only Announces Four Days After Incident.” Other outlets followed with reports such as “17-year-old dead after free vaccine had no preexisting illnesses”—even before the government had completed an autopsy*. Media attention to the boy increased as his sibling started a government petition protesting that the forensics team was trying to dismiss the boy’s death as suicide by drug consumption instead of investigating the influenza vaccine, which he’d taken two days prior to his death**. This misleading production of headlines continued for days. Even articles with well-backed information produced sensational titles. For instance, Aju Economy titled one of their articles on October 27: “Who put this in the influenza vaccine?” Observing the [Drug]*** Incident. Yet, the article’s contents mention nothing about suspicious substances in the vaccine and instead cover the death of the 17-year old boy and the substance he used to commit suicide.

   Henceforth, media started equating people who died after taking the influenza vaccine as those who died because of the vaccine. Although the KDCA claimed that there was little chance of correlation between the vaccine and deaths, mounting pressure made them initiate investigations into those reported dead by the influenza vaccine. Of the 101 total persons reported “dead after administration of the influenza vaccine,” 84 (83.2%) were over 70 years old, confirmed to be dead by other underlying diseases. There are only two possible lethal side effects from vaccines: anaphylaxis, which causes possibly life-threatening allergic reactions hours within injection of a substance, and Miller Fisher syndrome, a nerve disease that leads to abnormal muscle coordination****. As of November 10, the KCDA tracked 97 of those reportedly dead by influenza vaccine; none had suffered anaphylaxis nor Miller Fisher syndrome.

Snowballed fears and cold chain inefficiencies

   These anxieties built off an unusual accident last September 21, when a vaccine distribution company exposed their cargo to room temperatures and failed to keep the vaccines within the range of designated low temperatures of 2-8°C. This caused small lumps of protein to congeal in the syringes. The KCDA clarified that these vaccines posed no health risks to patients in and of themselves but would reduce the efficacy of the vaccines. Yet, the incident still caused widespread concern among the public and a temporary cessation of vaccine administration while the weakened vaccines were disposed of.

   The exposed vaccines also stimulated an examination of public health centers and private hospitals to see if their vaccines were kept in appropriate temperatures. The survey revealed that of the 89 investigated institutions, only 26 maintained temperatures between 2-8°C. Parliament Health and Welfare Committee representative Shin Hyun-young announced intentions to apply more government regulations to both vaccine delivery and administrative facilities*****.

   Many doctors and politicians emphasize the need to see this case as a social “vaccine” for the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine. The current COVID-19 vaccines in development are to be kept in extremely low temperatures, -70°C and -20°C by Biointech and Moderna respectively******. Lack of a secure vaccine cold-transportation chain could spell inefficacy in future COVID-19 vaccine distribution or reduce the vaccine’s effectiveness.

Professional discord

   Confusion spread further as the Korean Medical Association (KMA), independently from the KCDA, opened an emergency press conference on October 21 to recommended that doctors halt administering the vaccine for a week*******. This discord between professional and government opinion only increased public anxiety about the vaccine, especially as individual hospitals and districts recommended differently.

   A significant reason behind the discord was the issue of little pre-established data on “persons dead after administration of an influenza vaccine.” Both the KMA and KCDA were privy to numbers reported by media until the government conducted further research, something they had been reluctant to do as to avoid further stigmatizing the influenza vaccine. The KMA’s intent behind ordering the pause on vaccine administration was to pressure the government to conduct an autopsy on those reportedly killed by the vaccine; their ultimate goal was, ironically, to assuage the anxious public and to ensure that no undiscovered side effects from the vaccine existed********. During the KMA’s press conference, the organization’s president Choi Dae-zip stated that “from 2015 to early 2020, there have only been 15 reported cases of deaths caused by an influenza vaccine, but this October there have been 17 reported cases in a span of six days, which is highly unusual.” Yet, his statistics from this year were those provided by the media and public who started noticing the post-vaccine deaths and mistaking them as vaccine-caused deaths.

   In an interview with The Yonsei Annals, Dr. Kim (alias) who runs a local clinic said, “We didn’t even have to announce that we would be temporarily suspending influenza vaccine administration. Many of our patients are elderly because of this satellite city’s demographic. When the word about “deaths from influenza vaccine” got around, they simply stopped coming voluntarily.” Dr. Kim says she was aware of the fear that the KCDA and MKA’s discord created and the low possibility of there being an undiscovered lethal issue with the vaccines. But she still decided to halt administration at her clinic “because you never know for certain. And no one wants to have a patient die because of their treatment. It’s the most terrible thing.”

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   Such misreporting and confusion among professional statements are concerning as the world eagerly anticipates a COVID-19 vaccine. As the association between the influenza vaccine and deaths were only temporary, similar controversy is likely to rise after a COVID-19 vaccine is administrated.

   “I’d like to tell people suspicious of vaccines that we doctors are among the first to take them,” said Dr. Kim with a smile, “because we can’t risk spreading viruses to our patients. I think, for the time being—with a high degree of certainty, because there is nothing like 100% in science—that there is not much to be afraid of.”

   Thankfully, influenza cases have been at a record low so far due to quarantine and stricter sanitary measures. However, as flu season has not begun in earnest, the influenza vaccine fiasco’s full impact on social immunity has not yet been put to the test.

*KBS News

**National Petition Website

***In accordance to recommendations by the National Suicide Prevention Center, Aju Economy and The Yonsei Annals refrain from the publication of the methods and substances involved in the suicide.

****KBS

*****MediGate News

******DongA Science

*******MediGate News

********KMA’s official YouTube