The public health authorities have concluded that the Covid-19 vaccines have no links to recently reported cases of acute leukemia, citing the opinions of hematological experts.
Health officials said it is unnecessary to worry about leukemia after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine and recommended people to take the shots.
"After consulting with the Korean Society of Hematology, we concluded there was no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccine caused or triggered leukemia," said Cho Eun-hee, an official at the Chronic Disease Control Bureau in the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA). “Most leukemia cases reported after receiving Covid-19 vaccines were acute myeloid leukemia, which occurs several years after taking anticancer drugs.”
Director Kim Jin-seok of the Scientific Committee at the Korean Society of Hematology also said it is not theoretically correct that acute myeloid leukemia could develop in several days to months after taking the vaccination considering the etiology. The society said that there had been no causality reports between existing Covid-19 or influenza vaccine and leukemia.
Another reported side effect, abnormal periods after vaccination, has also raised attention in the nation. Still, the health authorities said they could not find a positive relationship between the two events. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it had received 18 reports on Covid-19 vaccination-related abnormal menstruation.
In the U.K., 32,455 cases of abnormal menstruation have been reported after taking Covid-19 shots.
"If you have unexpected vaginal bleeding after being vaccinated against the Covid-19, or if the amount is too much and lasts for a long time, you should visit healthcare providers for treatment," Cho said.
Korea has vaccinated 29,458,016 people – 11,050,017 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 14,805,891 with Pfizer's vaccine, 1,222,113 with Janssen's vaccine, 2,379,995 with Moderna's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 177,818 from the previous day.
The government announced that six million doses of Moderna's vaccines would be supplied in the nation sequentially from Thursday to Sunday, starting with the 1.02 million doses that arrived today.
In addition, 526,500 out of the 1.53 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine secured by the government in cooperation with Romania also arrived in Korea on Thursday.
The nation's daily Covid-19 tally fell below 2,000 on Thursday, just before the country plans to come up with a modified social distancing measure for the upcoming holiday.
On Thursday, the KDCA confirmed 1,961 new virus cases, including 1,927 local infections, raising the total caseload to 255,401. In addition, the country saw 11 more death from the virus, increasing total cases to 2,303 with a fatality rate of 0.9 percent.
Health authorities believe the current virus curbs, which center on banning gatherings of more than two after 6 p.m. in the greater Seoul area, along with major cities, are working to help contain a further uptick in the number of daily cases to some extent.
The end of the summer vacation season also helped the country contain the virus outside the capital area.
But health authorities remain wary of more contagious strains of Covid-19, including the Delta variant, which could spread across the country during the upcoming Chuseok holiday, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, when millions travel to visit their relatives.
Of 3,455 Covid-19 variant cases tallied over the Aug. 22-28 period, the Delta strain accounted for a whopping 99.2 percent, according to the KCDA.
The government will release details of the social distancing guidelines Friday. They will be applied from Monday through Chuseok, which runs from Sept. 18-22.
While the health authorities plan to maintain most virus restrictions, business hours of restaurants and bars may be extended to 10 p.m. from the current limitation of 9 p.m., and gatherings of relatives with more participants may be allowed, up from the current ceiling of four.