Nothing to hide

Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), confirmed to members of the Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly the first case of blood clots found in the body of a 60-year-old woman who died after inoculation with the AstraZeneca vaccine. A male in his 20s also was diagnosed with blood clots after taking the shot. Blood clotting from AstraZeneca vaccines has become a hot issue in the global medical community.

There is no scientific evidence pointing to blood clotting being caused by vaccinations. But fears have caused 20 European countries including Denmark, Norway and Italy to stop or suspend AstraZeneca vaccinations. Germany became the latest to suspend the jabs even after the World Health Organization declared there was no link between blood clots and AstraZeneca vaccines after three of seven Germans found with blood clots died. It found similar patterns in younger females four to 16 days after inoculation.

Our domestic health authorities are worryingly casual and evasive. The KDCA is suspected of withholding information about the autopsy of the woman in her 60s. The deceased got the jab on Feb. 26. She died on March 6 after experiencing trouble breathing. The blood clot was discovered in an autopsy two days later. According to the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, overall vaccination side effects were examined by the government on March 12. The KDCA would have learned the results by then.

Yet the KDCA denied blood clots or similar side effects from vaccinations during the following five days. Jeong only admitted it under parliamentary questioning. She said that the results will be shared with the public after formal submission of the autopsy report, reiterating that the vaccine did not directly cause the death. Hiding the affair only further stokes anxieties about AstraZeneca vaccines after a string of suspensions in other countries.

Authorities must tell the exact facts about vaccine side effects even if they cannot know the cause. The government has vowed to punish any fake news related to Covid-19 and vaccines. But who will take responsibility for hiding facts?