"Anxious About How to Get Vaccinated" Acute Leukemia Included... Complaints of 'Vaccine Hesitancy'

Vaccination Begins for Ages 18-49
Some Vaccinees Report High Fever, Blood Pressure Rise, Diarrhea Side Effects
Health Authorities "Causality Under Investigation"
Experts "Low Likelihood Acute Leukemia Caused by Vaccine"

A citizen is receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] The number of people reporting side effects after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is increasing. Among those who have been vaccinated or are scheduled to be vaccinated, so-called 'vaccine hesitancy' is growing.

On the Blue House's public petition board, hundreds of posts have been made reporting suspected vaccine side effects ranging from mild symptoms such as high fever, elevated blood pressure, diarrhea, and indigestion to severe cases like acute leukemia and acute myocardial infarction leading to death.

On the 24th, a post claimed that a man in his 50s died 20 days after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia following a Moderna vaccine. On the 27th, a petition was posted stating that a 30-year-old prospective groom, who worked as a physical education teacher, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia after the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

In response, a representative from the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team said at a press briefing on the 25th, "An investigation is underway," but added, "There have been no reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) or countries in Europe indicating that leukemia is related to or causally linked to the COVID-19 vaccine."

Cases of vaccine side effects have also appeared overseas. In Japan, a woman reported experiencing severe hair loss after receiving the first dose of the Moderna vaccine. Ms. A (28), who had no underlying health conditions, said that on the day of vaccination, she only felt pain in the arm where the shot was administered and had no other symptoms such as fever, but from the second day after vaccination, her hair began to fall out rapidly.

Professor Itou Taisuke of Hamamatsu University School of Medicine said, "Similar immune responses may occur after vaccination, as seen in cases of hair loss following COVID-19 infection," but added, "The causal relationship between the vaccine and hair loss has not yet been established."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Although health authorities explain that most cases claiming side effects after vaccination have no causal relationship, the surge in such claims is creating an atmosphere of growing anxiety. Ms. A, a woman in her 20s who decided not to get vaccinated, said, "Recently, someone I know died from a blood clot after receiving the Moderna vaccine. After hearing this, the risk of vaccine side effects felt very real to me," adding, "She was a woman in her 20s like me and had no underlying conditions, so hearing about her death increased my fear."

Experts explain that acute leukemia develops over a long period as cancer cells progress. Professor Baek Soon-young, emeritus professor at Catholic University Medical School, said in an interview with YTN, "The term 'acute' in blood cancer refers to the rapid appearance of symptoms, but the actual progression of the disease occurs over a considerable length of time," and explained that the possibility of the vaccine causing leukemia is low.

Meanwhile, since the start of vaccination in South Korea on February 26, there have been 180,677 reports of adverse reactions. Of these, 172,808 cases, accounting for 95.6% of all reports, involved relatively mild symptoms such as muscle pain, headache, fever, and nausea after vaccination. So far, the reported adverse reaction rates per vaccine doses administered are 0.64% for Janssen, 0.57% for Moderna, 0.48% for AstraZeneca, and 0.32% for Pfizer.

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