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Korean court rules vaccine linked to death, orders compensation for family

Published: 22 Sep. 2025, 10:29 Updated: 22 Sep. 2025, 19:51

Vials of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are seen during a trial run of a mass vaccination center located inside of a gym in the town of Ricany near Prague, Czech Republic, February 25, 2021. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

A Korean court acknowledged a causal link between a Covid-19 vaccine and the death of a recipient who died a week after being vaccinated, ordering the government to pay compensation to the family of the deceased.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the spouse of the deceased in a lawsuit filed against the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's (KDCA) decision to deny compensation for vaccine injuries, according to legal sources on Monday.

The deceased received a Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on Dec. 28, 2021, and collapsed at home two hours later, according to the court. They were taken to a hospital, but died on Jan. 4, 2022, seven days after the inoculation.

Medical records showed that the deceased had no prior diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease before the vaccination. It was only during hospitalization that the individual was found to have Moyamoya disease, a rare condition affecting blood vessels in the brain.

The family applied for compensation, arguing that the death was caused by the vaccine. The KDCA rejected the request, citing that it was difficult to establish a causal link, particularly as the cause of death listed on the certificate was intracranial hemorrhage.

A woman receives a booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), ahead of brace of an influx of Chinese tourists as Covid restriction are dismantled, at the Police hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, January 5, 2023. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Challenging the decision, the spouse filed an administrative suit, and the court sided with the plaintiff.

The court ruled that “the temporal proximity between the vaccination and the death, along with the possibility that the vaccination may have aggravated the underlying Moyamoya disease, supports the recognition of causality.”

“It cannot be definitively concluded that the death was caused solely by factors unrelated to the vaccination, nor does it appear impossible, based on medical theory or general experience, to infer a causal connection with the vaccine,” the court said.

The court further noted that while the Moyamoya diagnosis was made during the treatment process, “it is unclear when the disease developed or how advanced it was at the time of vaccination,” adding, “since the deceased had shown no symptoms of Moyamoya prior to the inoculation, it is difficult to definitively conclude that the brain hemorrhage was entirely unrelated to the vaccine.”

The KDCA has appealed the ruling.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]