On August 27 th , over 1,000 members of religious organization called Shincheonji Church
of Jesus participated in donating plasma for the cure of COVID-19.
This is carried out under the invitation of the health authorities in South Korea back on
24 th , asking Shincheonji Church to cooperate for donating additional plasma for the
development of the vaccine.
Early this year, around 5,000 confirmed cases were found in Shincheonji Church
members with most infections from the city of Daegu, while most of them recovered
from the virus with 11 deaths.
According to the report from the Korea Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention
(KCDC), 562 recovered members from the church registered to donate plasma and 409
completed donation in July through the cooperation between KCDC and Shincheonji
Church. Facing the need for "facilitation of developing a cure through plasma donation
and clinical trial", the KCDC asked another round of a large-scale donation by members
of Shincheonji Church in August.
The KCDC in its official document expressed appreciation to Shincheonji Church
(Chairman Lee, Man Hee) for "active participation in the collection of plasma as a group
for the development of corona(virus) cure for the purpose of national health safety under
the global crisis caused by the COVID-19."
"With the cooperation of Daegu city, Daegu Athletics Center plans to provide the space,
and GC Pharma plans to provide the necessary equipment and personnel from 27th
August to 4th September. We express our gratitude to the city for providing a location for
the group donations. We also express our gratitude to the congregation members of the
religious organization, Shincheonji to be specific," said Mr. Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy
Director of the KCDC.
Research and development of the convalescent plasma treatment is underway by National
Institute of Health under the Ministry of Health and Welfare in cooperation with Green
Cross (GC) Pharma, a biotechnology company in South Korea.
On the same day, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized an emergency
use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19. Experts say that more data
need to be collected to see the benefit of such treatment.
Major challenges of researching the effectiveness and the development of convalescent
plasma treatment come from limited supply from donors who must be recovered from the
virus.
As a religious leader, Chairman Lee, Man Hee of Shincheonji in July said, "This (plasma
donation) is the work that needs to be done as citizens of this country and as true
believers. It is keeping the command of Jesus of loving your neighbor as yourself (Mt
22:39 of the Bible)."
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/19898
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