North Korea’s Rejection of AstraZeneca Vaccine Does Not Mean It’s Dangerous

Maxim Sorokopud

Health

14th July 2021

North Korea’s Rejection of AstraZeneca Vaccine Does Not Mean It’s Dangerous

North Korea's decision should not be used as evidence of safety (Getty Images).

The Claim

North Korea rejected 2 million AstraZeneca vaccines because they are dangerous.

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Emerging story

News outlets recently reported that North Korea had rejected a donation of over two million AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines. Following the news, a South Korean think-tank cited AstraZeneca’s side effects as key to North Korea’s decision to reject the donation.

Social media users are now claiming that this rejection is evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine is dangerous. For instance, the Australian MP Craig Kelly stated that this means there is something wrong with the vaccine. One viral post is claiming that the North Korean government is making a common-sense decision in rejecting the vaccine.

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Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation found that numerous factors may be at play in North Korea’s decision to reject the AstraZeneca vaccine. This decision should not be used as evidence of the effectiveness or safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine overall.

As the World Health Organization and a range of other trusted sources state, the AstraZeneca vaccine’s benefits far outweigh its risks. The side effects that the think-tank is citing as a reason for rejection are likely to be blood clots. However, coronavirus has a much higher risk of causing blood clots than the AstraZeneca vaccine, with four out of a million people at risk of a blood clot from the AstraZeneca vaccine compared to an eight in 100 chance of getting a blood clot and an 11 in 100 chance of getting deep vein thrombosis from coronavirus.

The North Korean Government is infamously secretive and hard to interpret. Naturally, this means that the reason for the government rejecting the vaccines is hard to know with certainty. The North Korean government has repeatedly stated that the country has yet to experience a single case of coronavirus. However, many believe that the country is currently in the middle of a mass outbreak. Potentially, this could be a significant reason for the rejection of the vaccines, as the country would then have to admit that it had been deceptive about the virus within its borders throughout the course of the pandemic.

Whatever the reasons behind North Korea’s rejection of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the facts about the vaccine’s benefits should take precedence.