Paralyzed nursing assistant recognized as country's 1st industrial accident victim related to COVID-19 vaccination

A nursing assistant who suffered paralysis following vaccination for the coronavirus was recognized as a victim of industrial disaster Friday in the first such case in South Korea.

The state-run Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service, under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, concluded that the nursing assistant should be eligible for various state benefits and financial compensation under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, saying her health conditions were closely related to her job.

The victim, whose name was not made public, suffered from double vision and paralysis after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 12. She was later diagnosed with acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, a rare autoimmune disease.

She got the vaccine shot during working hours to "comply with her employer's recommendations," the agency said, adding that "she would have been in a difficult position in her workplace had she not been inoculated."

"She also had no underlying health conditions that otherwise might have caused the problems, and there seems a reasonable causal link between the side effects and the vaccination," it said. (Yonhap)