At the time of the second outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the flu season in northern hemisphere countries (October to May) has also arrived.
The harm of influenza should not be underestimated. In order to avoid the double pandemic of the new crown and influenza, governments of all countries are now working harder to promote people’s influenza vaccination. For example, the South Korean government plans to vaccinate 19 million people for free, accounting for 36.7% of its total population.
After all, vaccines can be a barrier to prevent human infections. In terms of costs, the money for vaccines is also more cost-effective than treatment.
Line up for injection site
However, recently, flu vaccines have been turbulent, and they are all related to “death” and “sickness.”
The panic started after Korea promoted the free vaccination program.
On October 18, a 17-year-old South Korean teenager died 2 days after being vaccinated with influenza. On October 21, Yonhap News Agency reported 9 deaths after flu vaccination. After only one day, this number rose to 25, followed by 32, 48, and now 59.
Coincidentally, Taiwan has also experienced serious adverse events after a wide range of publicly funded influenza vaccine appointments. According to CCTV reports, on October 10, a 51-year-old man from Taichung suffered from numbness in his hands and feet, shortness of breath, and weakness in his limbs 10 days after being vaccinated. He was diagnosed with acute polyneuritis and has not been out of danger to his life.
Zhuang Renxiang, spokesperson for the Department of Disease Control of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan, revealed that as of October 23, there have been 51 adverse events across Taiwan, 12 of which were serious adverse reactions, that is, shock, dyspnea, etc. symptom.
Although there is no evidence that vaccination is the cause of death for these people, the general public isOverall worries are still increasing day by day, and the flu appointment fever has also cooled down.
For example, there are more and more voices in South Korea asking for postponement of vaccination and resuming the vaccination plan after the reasons are identified. Last weekend, the number of influenza vaccination appointments in Taiwan dropped sharply from 50,000 to 70,000 to about 30,000. Singapore Health The department suspended the use of two influenza vaccines used in South Korea.
But must the problem be caused by the vaccine? not necessarily.
In South Korea, “The Victim Investigation Team believes that’vaccination leads to death’(conclusion)The direct relevance is low”, this is the official explanation given by Zheng Yinjing, Director of the Disease Management Department at the press conference.
Zheng Yinjing, Director of the Department of Disease Management, answers questions from reporters, source: Yonhap News Agency
Public reports show that the influenza vaccines used in South Korea come from its homegrown GC Pharmaceuticals, SK Biotechnology, Yiyang Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi in France and GlaxoSmithKline in the UK. According to Zheng Yinjing, the deceased are currently vaccinated with different batch numbers of vaccines, and none of the people vaccinated at the same medical institution on the same day as the deceased has experienced serious adverse reactions, which basically eliminates the possibility of vaccine toxicity.
Some people also questioned whether the improper transportation and storage of vaccines directly caused the deaths of these 59 people.
Last month, the South Korean government was preparing to start a free vaccination program, but it called an emergency stop due to the failure of the vaccine transportation vehicle’s cold insulation. Related departments and pharmaceutical companies recalled 1.095 million vaccines. But the flow of other vaccines of the same batch is unknown after all, which is suspicious.
Be aware that different types of vaccines have extremely strict requirements on temperature and other conditions during storage and transportation. Inactivated vaccines such as influenza vaccines must be stored in an environment of 2~8°C and protected from light. Exposure to room temperature, the vaccine existsExpiration risk.
According to industry insiders, the biggest impact of expired vaccines is that they may render the immunization ineffective, and vaccinators may need to re-inject them, but generally they will not aggravate adverse reactions. This reason seems to be excluded.
Considering that most of the deaths are elderly people over 60 years old(54/59) Circumstances, a relatively large possibility is that these people died from a coupling reaction that occurred after vaccination. That is, the vaccinators themselves have a certain underlying disease or are in a latent disease, but it just happens to The onset of disease after vaccination has nothing to do with the vaccination itself, but with the timing of vaccination.
Therefore, it is unnecessary to give up flu vaccine for these adverse events.
On the one hand, the power of the flu virus is not small. According to WHO data, seasonal influenza causes 290,000 to 650,000 deaths worldwide each year, and 3 to 5 million become severe cases, which have a greater impact on pregnant women, the elderly, infants, and patients with chronic underlying diseases.
From a simple point of view of probability, as of October 24, 14.27 million people had been vaccinated against influenza. At that time, 48 people died, with a mortality rate of 0.34 per 100,000. According to estimates provided by the WHO, the global seasonal influenza mortality rate is approximately 3.82 per 100,000 to 8.55 per 100,000 per year.
It can be seen that without vaccination, the risk is higher.
On the other hand, if the second outbreak of the new crown epidemic is superimposed, the mortality rate is bound to be higher. As early as April of this year, Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, “recommended everyone who had the conditions to get the flu vaccine this year.” This is the reason.
So, under heavy pressure, the South Korean government still insists on continuing the vaccination program. South Korean President Moon Jae-in also stated that it is necessary to continue to expand the scope of influenza vaccination.
And South Korea’s Prime Minister Ding Shijun chose to publicize his schedule of vaccinating influenza, nothing more than to tell the public: the vaccine itself is safe, don’t panic.
Ding Shijun received the flu vaccine, source: Yonhap News Agency
Specifically in China, we don’t need to be affected by this, especially for those who are consciously at high risk. The vaccine should still be given.
From the current point of view, the flu vaccination rate in my country has been low for a long time, less than 2% per year, far lower than 45%~50% in the United States. This is of course related to several negative disturbances in vaccine companies, but it is also inseparable from the limitations of vaccine understanding.
In the view of vaccine expert Tao Lina, after several negative vaccination turmoil, such an incident of deaths of Korean vaccinators and the death of many Chinese infants after receiving hepatitis B vaccine in 2013, the public should be more scientific Learn about vaccines and eliminate irrational panic.
Of course, this must first be established on the basis that the company can strictly control the production, storage and transportation of vaccines and ensure product quality.
In fact, we always hope that the vaccine can achieve 100 points-it can protect us from diseases without causing us any side effects. But reality is never so perfect. This is what we have to accept rationally.