Family of teenager who died after flu shot demands full investigation

A screenshot from the Cheong Wa Dae petition site shows a petition posted on Tuesday requesting a thorough investigation into the death of a 17-year-old high school senior that occurred shortly after he received a flu vaccine. Screen captured from https://www1.president.go.kr/ site

By Bahk Eun-ji

The family of a 17-year-old who died two days after receiving a flu shot urged the government, Tuesday, to conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of his death, in an online petition posted on the presidential website.

The high school senior was found dead in the morning of Oct. 16 in his home in Incheon. His family claims he had been healthy until he received the vaccine in the early afternoon on Oct. 14, and the vaccine he was given was distributed by a company accused of mishandling containers of the flu vaccine.

A health worker at a medical institution in Seoul reaches for a syringe to vaccinate a patient during the seasonal influenza vaccination campaign in this Oct. 21 photo. Yonhap

Forensic investigators ruled out the possibility that the vaccine was the cause of death, reporting that they had found high levels of sodium nitrate in the boy's stomach. They determined the cause of death to be suicide.

However, the older brother of the 17-year-old protested the results in an online petition on the presidential website.

“The authorities are trying to make my younger brother's death out to be a case of suicide without further investigation to prove the connection to the mishandled vaccine,” he wrote in the petition.

“The police found 19 water bottles presumed to have been used by my younger brother at the residential waste recycling site, and detected the sodium nitrate in one bottle. But I am not sure if the bottle came from our house, and my younger brother didn't show any suicidal signs either at home or at school,” he said, raising questions about the direction of the police investigation and stating that he wanted to prove his brother's innocence.

This petition had received more than 29,000 signatures as of 1:00 p.m. Wednesday.

Police said they are investigating the case and they have confirmed that the deceased high school student had purchased sodium nitrite.

“It has been discovered that the high school student who died recently purchased sodium nitrate somewhere. We are investigating whether there is any circumstantial evidence using a cell phone and tablet PC used by the student,” a police official said.

Considering the autopsy results showed that about four grams of sodium nitrate ― a lethal amount ― was found in his stomach, police believe that there is a possibility that he decided to take his own life.

Sodium nitrate is a food additive that is used to maintain the bright red color of meat when making meat products such as ham and sausages, but it can be toxic in high amounts.

Meanwhile, the health authorities keep trying to dispel mounting public anxiety over the safety of the flu shot, with a number of political figures getting public vaccinations to reassure those who are reluctant to get vaccinated.

Jeong Eun-kyung, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said she plans to receive the seasonal flu vaccine, today, at a local clinic in Sejong, following Health Minister Park Neung-hoo, who was vaccinated Tuesday, and Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, who was given a shot Oct. 21.