By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Thirty-year-old pregnant woman Lee Eun-young visited her obstetrician to get advice on the vaccinations against influenza A (H1N1).

Surprisingly, her doctor did not encourage her inoculation, saying during a telephone interview, "I cannot guarantee your safety."

After seeing the doctor, Lee felt confused. After all, the government recommended that pregnant women should be vaccinated.

Adding to her confusion were rumors that backed up her doctor's concerns.

An elementary school teacher in southern Seoul told The Korea Times that she had received questions from her students' parents about the safety of the vaccine.

"Some are worried about side effects," she said.

The government is conducting vaccinations on 690,000 elementary, middle and high school students, but more than 30,000 have refused it.

The government assures the public that the vaccines are safe. The mass vaccinations come at a time when the new flu is showing signs of slowing down.

There are serious public concerns as inoculations are going into full swing. Adding weight to their worries are actual cases of harmful side effects.

On Sunday, a 16-year-old boy showed symptoms of Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), a disorder involving weakness and numbness, which can in rare cases lead to paralysis. He came down with the condition two days after he was inocculated.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said the boy was recovering. "We aren't even sure whether his problems had direct links with the vaccination," KCDC official Kwon Jun-wook said.

The clinical trial period for the vaccine was less than six months and the antibody formation rate is a shade over 50 percent. According to Docple.com, a Web site for physicians, only 23 percent of 504 respondents said that they would get vaccinated.

The respondents are from all walks of life so their rate is bound to be lower than among students who are in the initial stage of mass vaccinations.

Common side effects include pain, swelling and redness around the injection site, as well as systemic symptoms, including an aching body, headaches, mild fever, cough, nausea and a runny nose. One in every million suffer from GBS, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data.

Concerns are universal.

In a survey conducted by The Times of London, only 46 percent of pregnant women said they would get inoculated after consulting with their doctor over safety concerns.

Doctors in New York petitioned a court to stop the vaccinations citing a lack of proper testing procedures.

There have been about 230 cases of side effects reported in Korea after the vaccination of school students commenced Nov. 12.

The majority of them were minor, Kwon Jun-wook, a KCDC official, said.

He said it was safe to get inoculated this winter.

The WHO said this week that 65 million doses of various H1N1 flu vaccines had been administered so far without many serious side effects.

Many experts see that the worst of the epidemic is over with the increasing rate of patients obviously over the tip of the curve.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr