--- title: Deaths in South Korea After Flu Vaccinations Shouldn't Stop Flu Shot Campaigns description: Dozens of deaths among people who recently received flu shots raise concern—but the deaths don't seem to be due to the vaccine itself. canonical: https://time.com/5903827/south-korea-flu-vaccinations/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-26T16:12:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:21:34.140Z article:section: Health og:title: Deaths in South Korea After Flu Vaccinations: What You Need to Know og:description: Dozens of deaths among people who recently received flu shots raise concern—but the deaths don't seem to be due to the vaccine itself. og:url: https://time.com/5903827/south-korea-flu-vaccinations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31a9de9b760c3231/698a1389b3fce357430c74f5/GettyImages-1229082862.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A Flu Vaccine Syringe Rests On A Table og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Deaths in South Korea After Flu Vaccinations: What You Need to Know twitter:description: Dozens of deaths among people who recently received flu shots raise concern—but the deaths don't seem to be due to the vaccine itself. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31a9de9b760c3231/698a1389b3fce357430c74f5/GettyImages-1229082862.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Deaths in South Korea After Flu Vaccinations Shouldn't Stop Flu Shot Campaigns  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 26, 2020 4:12 PM CUT  BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - OCTOBER 14: A flu vaccine syringe rests on a table on October 14, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium. The seasonal flu (influenza) vaccine is made up of two strain A viruses (usually one H1N1 strain and another H3N2) and one strain B virus. The virus particles in the vaccine are chemically inactivated. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - OCTOBER 14: A flu vaccine syringe rests on a table on October 14, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium. The seasonal flu (influenza) vaccine is made up of two strain A viruses (usually one H1N1 strain and another H3N2) and one strain B virus. The virus particles in the vaccine are chemically inactivated. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)Getty Images—Thierry Monasse  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Oct 26, 2020 4:12 PM CUT Four dozen people in South Korea have [died](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-southkorea-flushot/south-korean-authorities-stick-to-flu-vaccine-plan-after-deaths-rise-to-48-idINKBN2790G8 "undefined") after recently receiving their seasonal flu shots, but health officials there say the deaths were not related to the vaccinations. South Korean health officials found no direct link between the deaths and the flu shots and plan to continue the country’s immunization campaign to vaccinate people for free. “After reviewing death cases so far, it is not the time to suspend a flu vaccination program since vaccination is very crucial this year, considering … the COVID-19 outbreak,” Jeong Eun-Kyung, director of the Korea Disease Control Agency, said during a briefing. This year, countries are more [aggressively carrying out flu vaccinations](https://time.com/5895332/flu-vaccine-covid-19/ "undefined"), as one way to potentially mitigate the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, concerns about the deaths led health officials in Singapore to temporarily [halt vaccinations](https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3107075/singapore-halts-flu-vaccines-after-48-patients-die-south "undefined") with two flu vaccines in wide use there—one made by South Korean company SK Bioscience, and the other by the French multinational Sanofi—according to the South China Morning Post. Each flu season in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that anywhere from 140,000 to 810,000 people are hospitalized for influenza, and up to 61,000 people die from the disease. Those rates would be considerably higher without the vaccines; studies have shown that flu shots can reduce the risk of serious disease and related hospitalization, which is especially important this year given the added burden COVID-19 is placing on the health care system. If fewer people need to go to the hospital for flu-related reasons, that provides more staff and resources to devote to caring for COVID-19 patients. The national flu vaccine campaign in South Korea did experience early stumbles. In September, the government temporarily suspended immunizations due to cold-chain problems, and in early October, about 600,000 doses of vaccines from one manufacturer were recalled after contaminants were found in some of the vials. But health officials in South Korea said the recent deaths do not seem to be related to the vaccines themselves; they occurred among people receiving shots from seven different manufacturers, and in people who were older and experiencing other health conditions including heart disease. The average age of the people who died after getting vaccinated was 74\. Tracing deaths directly to the flu shot is trickier, but in the U.S., the CDC estimates that 1.31 cases of anaphylaxis occur for every 1 million doses, and an even smaller percentage of those result in deaths. Anaphylaxis is a severe reaction to the ingredients in the vaccine. Such reactions and deaths are extremely rare, however, and do not outweigh the benefits of the flu shot. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5903827/south-korea-flu-vaccinations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5903827/south-korea-flu-vaccinations/"},"headline":"Deaths in South Korea After Flu Vaccinations Shouldn't Stop Flu Shot Campaigns","datePublished":"2020-10-26T16:12:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:21:34.140Z","description":"Dozens of deaths among people who recently received their flu shots raise concern but shouldn’t deter flu immunizations","url":"https://time.com/5903827/south-korea-flu-vaccinations/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31a9de9b760c3231/698a1389b3fce357430c74f5/GettyImages-1229082862.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31a9de9b760c3231/698a1389b3fce357430c74f5/GettyImages-1229082862.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A Flu Vaccine Syringe Rests On A Table","caption":"A Flu Vaccine Syringe Rests On A Table","creditText":"Getty Images—Thierry Monasse","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5903827/south-korea-flu-vaccinations/","name":"Deaths in South Korea After Flu Vaccinations Shouldn't Stop Flu Shot Campaigns"}}]}] ```