韩媒报道称,截至26日,韩国接种流感疫苗后死亡的病例已升至59例。
10月16日,仁川一位17岁少年接种流感疫苗2天后死亡。此后,韩国各地陆续都出现了接种流感疫苗后死亡的病例,其中大部分都是70岁以上老人。最短在接种疫苗后4小时死亡,最长在接种后85小时死亡。
不少民众对此感到忧心,但韩国政府至今没有叫停疫苗接种。
韩国总统文在寅在26日首次回应此事,称已确定死亡病例与接种疫苗之间没有直接因果关系,希望民众信赖卫生部门和专家的结论。他说,为了预防流感,以及流感和新冠的同时感染、同时扩散,有必要继续扩大流感疫苗接种范围。
文在寅还喊话卫生部门继续努力,在对死亡病例进行快速检查、及时公布结果的同时,还需要梳理并公布韩国历年接种流感疫苗后死亡病例情况,以及国外的相关情况,以消除民众不必要的恐慌。
People wait to get a flu shot in Seoul, October 21, 2020. /CFP
Fifty-nine South Koreans have died after getting flu shots, South Korea's health authorities said on Monday.
Fears over flu vaccines emerged October 16 after a 17-year-old boy in the western port city of Incheon died two days after receiving a flu shot.
Among the deaths, 52 of them were aged more than 70, said the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), adding that no direct link was found between the death and the flu shots after investigating the cause of 46 deaths.
KDCA decided to continue the government-led free flu vaccination plan, as they didn't find direct links between the vaccination and death of the people, who took the same flu shots.
"After reviewing death cases so far, it is not the time to suspend a flu vaccination programme since vaccination is very crucial this year, considering the COVID-19 outbreaks," KDCA Director Jeong Eun-kyung said in a briefing.
每年的11-12月是流感高发的季节,为防止出现新冠与流感的双重感染,韩国今年扩大流感疫苗接种计划,计划为大约1900万青少年和老年人提供免费接种。截至27日,已有1023万人接受了免费疫苗的接种。
这个计划原定于9月底启动,但就在计划启动的前一天,大约500万剂免费疫苗被发现在配送过程中未能按照规范全程冷藏。计划因此被暂停了三周,于10月13日重启。
不止如此,在本月早些时候,由另一家公司运输的61.5万份流感疫苗也因为被发现内含不明白色颗粒而被召回,随后政府称这些颗粒是无害的蛋白质。然而有近1.8万人在疫苗被召回之前进行了接种。
据悉,韩国免费接种计划采用的流感疫苗由五家制药企业供应,分别为本土的GC制药公司、SK生物科技、一洋药品公司以及法国赛诺菲集团、英国葛兰素史克公司。经销商包括韩国LG化学公司和保宁制药公司等。
A kind of flu shot in Jeju, October 21, 2020. /CFP
With winter approaching, the country is planning to inoculate 30 million people in a bid to prevent the health system being overloaded by patients with flu and COVID-19 exposure.
Coming just weeks after rolling out, the national vaccine program was temporarily suspended for three weeks. 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.
Suppliers of the vaccines for this year's program include Korea Vaccine, Boryung Biopharma, LG Chem, SK bioscience and GC Pharma.
虽然韩国的卫生部门坚持继续疫苗接种,但显然不是所有人都这么淡定。
新加坡卫生部门25日深夜发布声明说,鉴于韩国报告多起接种流感疫苗后死亡病例,新加坡已暂停使用韩国采用的SKYCellflu Quadrivalent和VaxigripTetra两种流感疫苗。
As South Korea presses on with its inoculations, Southeast Asia's tiny city-state of Singapore became one of the first nations this week to call a temporary halt to the use of two influenza vaccines, as a precaution.
目前,韩国有关部门还在针对注射疫苗后死亡的病例展开调查。
然而,对于即将到来的流感高发季,接种疫苗始终是最有效的预防手段。
事实上,流感疫苗的安全和有效性已经得到证实。根据世界卫生组织的记录,流感疫苗已经被使用了60多年,确立了各个年龄组的安全性记录。尽管曾报告过一些严重不良事件,但仍属罕见。
流感疫苗小贴士:
Q:什么人群可以接种流感疫苗?
A:6月龄及以上并且没有禁忌症即可接种疫苗。重点推荐6月龄至5岁儿童、60岁及以上老人、医务人员、慢性病患者、孕妇、6月龄以下婴儿的家庭成员和看护人员接种流感疫苗。
Q:我去年接种过流感疫苗,今年还需要接种吗?
A:流感疫苗需要每年接种,因为接种疫苗后产生抗体的保护作用不足以维持一年,而且流感病毒的变异率比较高。同一个流感季内,已按接种程序完成全程接种的人员,无需重复接种。
Q:接种疫苗之后可能出现什么副作用?
A:接种流感疫苗后常见的副作用主要表现为局部反应(接种部位红晕、肿胀、硬结、疼痛、烧灼感等)和全身反应(发热、头痛、头晕、嗜睡、乏力、肌痛、周身不适、恶心、呕吐、腹痛、腹泻等)。但上述症状通常是轻微的,并在几天内自行消失,极少出现重度反应。