A South Korean based religious group named Shincheonji Church of Jesus said that over 4,000 church members who recovered from COVID-19 are willing to donate their plasma for the development of a treatment.
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) has persisted into a “global pandemic,” countries are working on research to develop vaccines and treatments. As such, South Korea is also expected to speed up the development of a treatment for COVID-19.
South Korea has been conducting research on the development of a treatment through using plasma from the blood of cured patients. However, as this has been difficult due to the lack of donated blood, the donation of plasma of 4,000 Shincheonji church members who were cured from the infection is believed to be of great help in the development of a treatment.
Using the currently calculated market value of blood volume of COVID-19 cured patients in the United States, the plasma of 4,000 cured patients is worth about $83 billion to bio companies. The reason why the blood of the cured is so expensive is because of how difficult it is to find a donor. Countries are competitively trying to develop a treatment but because it is proving difficult to obtain enough blood, astronomical amounts are used to secure the needed amount.
“It is difficult to accelerate the development of a treatment for COVID-19 with only 200 recovered patients who expressed their will to donate blood. The massive donation from the recovered patients in the Shincheonji Church will solve the problem of the lack of blood for research,” said an official from Green Cross Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company in South Korea.
In the first quarter of this year, the rapid spread of the virus hit the church members in Daegu of South Korea, where the early signs of the crisis appeared with the controversy over the massive visitors from China before the infection of church members.
Mr. Man Hee Lee, founder of the Shincheonji Church, said that members of the church are advised to donate plasma voluntarily. “As Jesus sacrificed himself with his blood for life, we hope that the blood of people can bring positive effects on overcoming the current situation,” said Mr. Lee.
“We had a discussion with the health authorities and tried to establish a plan with details for donation. Some of the recovered members have already donated individually, feeling thankful for the assistance from the government and medical teams. They expressed their will to make contribution to the society,” said an official in the church.
Hyang-ki Lee (alias, female, 26 years old), a member of the Daegu church who had donated blood plasma, said, “The most fearful thing was the perception of those who are infected by society and the discrimination and hate of treating us as sinners despite being victims.” Hyun-jung Kim (alias, female, 57 years old) said, “The fact that I was infected with the scary virus was a huge shock and when my husband also became infected, I felt pain like the sky was falling.”
“The fact that there is no cure for this virus is what gives people great anxiety and fear”, she added in regards to the reason for the decision to donate plasma. “If a drug can be developed through plasma donation to save other people’s lives, I am happy to do so. I decided to donate my plasma so that people who are dying and suffering from COVID-19 can be freed a day sooner and because of my hope for the virus to end.”
Some local governments in South Korea recently brought lawsuits against the church with allegations that the church did not cooperate with the authorities by not submitting the full list of church facilities and members.
“No evidence has been found that Shincheonji supplied missing or altered lists. And there were only minor differences,” said Kim Kang-lip, vice-minister of Health. Academic researches on Shincheonji and COVID-19 stated that the church “provided the list of its South Korean members six days after it was requested” and “it was initially unclear whether shut down facilities and properties should be included” when the government asked for the lists of real estate.
(Shincheonji and Coronavirus in South Korea: Sorting Fact from Fiction – A White Paper https://www.eupoliticalreport.eu/covid-19-and-the-shincheonji-church-in-south-korea-a-white-paper-reveals-the-truth/)
A Shincheonji media coordinator said the church will cooperate fully with investigations from government agencies.
South Korea reported 12,800 confirmed cases and 282 deaths from COVID-19.
