"Healthy person in their 20s becomes unable to walk after AZ vaccine"… Blue House National Petition

"Experiencing Adverse Symptoms After Vaccination... Is the Government Willing to Acknowledge Side Effects?" Outrage

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] A petition on the Blue House National Petition Board has been posted, urging a thorough investigation after a healthy man in his 20s developed myelitis following an AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine injection, but hospitals and others refuse to acknowledge the vaccine’s side effects or take responsibility.

On the 10th, a petition titled "I have doubts about whether recognition and compensation for COVID vaccine side effects are truly possible" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board.

The petitioner, who identified himself as a cousin of the man in his 20s who received the vaccine, said, "My cousin is currently hospitalized due to abnormal symptoms after receiving the AZ vaccine," and added, "The government emphasized safety by stating it would take responsibility for side effects after vaccination, but after experiencing abnormal symptoms firsthand, I doubt whether they are willing to acknowledge cases of side effects." According to the petitioner, the cousin is in his 20s and works in the medical field; he received the vaccine on the 4th at the hospital where he works.

The petitioner explained, "My cousin has no underlying health conditions and had no health issues in a health checkup conducted one month before the COVID vaccine," and continued, "On the night of the vaccination day and until early the next morning, he vomited more than ten times and had a fever, so he went to a nearby hospital emergency room and was then moved to the intensive care unit on the 5th."

He added, "His mental state became confused, and symptoms such as severe muscle weakness of 70-80% gradually worsened," and "The hospital said that only an immune system side effect could be considered, and medically suspected brain or spinal cord disease, recommending urgent treatment after cerebrospinal fluid testing."

A petition titled "I have doubts about whether recognition and compensation for COVID-19 vaccine side effects are truly possible" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board on the 8th. Photo by Blue House website capture

The petitioner said, "On the 6th, the attending physician acknowledged there was a spinal cord disease but insisted it was highly likely to have existed before and firmly denied any causal relationship with the vaccine, treating him as a patient with a pre-existing disability," and "On the 7th, he had high fever and frequent vomiting, and on the 8th, he was unable to walk and underwent various tests, but the hospital gave an unacceptable opinion that it was a herniated disc unrelated to the vaccine."

He added, "When we contacted the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency call center about this issue, we were irresponsibly told that COVID-19 vaccination is optional, that he chose to get vaccinated, and that they could not provide any help regarding this issue, advising us to resolve it with the hospital," and "Since medical workers cannot work without receiving the COVID vaccine, the explanation that vaccination is optional was a very unpleasant response from the family’s perspective."

The petitioner questioned, "How likely is it that a healthy man in his mid-20s with no underlying conditions would develop myelitis after vaccination due to a bizarre coincidence?" and asked, "If any abnormal symptom is treated as a pre-existing disease or concluded to be caused by a bizarre coincidence, are COVID-19 vaccine recipients and their families just supposed to accept it?"

He continued, "I want to ask whether there is even the slightest willingness to acknowledge a causal relationship with abnormal symptoms after COVID-19 vaccination, and not just emphasize safety but realistically recognize and compensate for side effects."

Meanwhile, according to the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team on the 10th, as of midnight that day, the cumulative number of vaccine recipients was 446,941. The number of new vaccinations on the previous day (the 9th) was 60,662. The vaccination rate compared to the domestic population (51,825,932 people, based on the January resident registration population this year) is 0.86%.

Since vaccination began on the 26th of last month, the cumulative number of suspected adverse reaction reports in Korea is 5,786, which is 1.29% of the total vaccinated population. The number of adverse reaction reports by vaccine type is 5,755 related to the AZ vaccine, accounting for 99.5% of the total. Reports related to the Pfizer vaccine are 31 cases (0.5%).

Adverse reactions of concern after vaccination are known to be similar to those of existing flu vaccines, including transverse myelitis, anaphylaxis, facial nerve palsy, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Guillain-Barr? syndrome.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.