Free flu shots likely to resume on Oct. 12

A notice at a local health clinic in Seoul announces a halt to the government's free flu vaccination program, Sept. 22, after a storage mishap. Korea Times file

By Kim Se-jeong

The government said Tuesday that it is planning to resume its free flu vaccination program on Oct. 12, as vaccines refrigerated improperly during transport in September turned out to be safe.

"The test results and following consultations with experts made us conclude that the vaccines in question have no safety problems," Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

"We need additional meetings, but we now have the plan to resume the free shots program on Oct. 12. We will update you when we have more details to share."

More than 5 million doses of the flu vaccine were exposed to room temperature on Sept. 21, which made the government halt the free vaccination program temporarily. The program later resumed partially for children up to 12 years old and pregnant women.

Although the vaccines have been proven safe for the most part, Jeong said the authorities will still discard 480,000 doses as a precaution.

An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety explained details of the tests conducted and how the mishandling of the vaccines during transport took place.

Contrary to what was previously known, not all affected vaccines were collected, the official said. Instead, samples were collected and tested to verify their safety, checking how much antigen protein was left and if they could still trigger an exothermic reaction. The test results showed most of them were fine, and others will be discarded.

The investigators also looked into how long the vaccines were improperly stored at room temperature and found for 93 percent of delivery trucks, the average time of exposure was less than three hours.

They also did a lab test to determine that flu vaccines exposed to 25 degrees Celsius for 24 hours were still fine.

The ministry official also explained Shinsung Pharm and DL Pharma took care of the transport using many trucks and the affected vaccines were exposed to room temperature while being transferred to different trucks when they arrived in Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces and Jeju Island.

It remains to be seen if Tuesday's announcement will alleviate public distrust of the flu shots amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the KDCA reported 75 new cases of COVID-19 for Monday, pushing up the total number of cases to 24,239, including 422 deaths.

The daily total remained under 100 for the second consecutive day, although the quarantine authorities warned a sudden spike could happen at any time and that they will stay on alert.

Among the 75, 14 were reported at a rehabilitation center in Uijeongbu, northern Gyeonggi Province, marking another local hotbed. Thirteen people were confirmed to have the virus after gathering in Bupyeong, Incheon, during the Chuseok holiday, along with seven others who contracted the virus after a family gathering during the long weekend in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province.

The government said Tuesday it will soon decide the scope of social distancing rules for the period after Oct. 11. Tightened restrictions imposed for the Chuseok holiday will end that day.

The National Police Agency (NPA) said it will repeat measures taken Oct. 3 to thwart a scheduled anti-government protest at Gwanghwamun in Seoul, Oct. 9.

On Oct. 3, the police mobilized 10,000 officers and 300 police buses to block people from accessing the protest site.

Also, the NPA set up almost 900 checkpoints within Seoul to randomly inspect vehicles, while subway trains did not stop at stations near the site to discourage protesters from using public transport.

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