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Suba
United Kingdom
395 Posts |
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jabsadmin
1240 Posts |
 Posted - 10/14/2009 : 16:39:42
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1220220/Normal-flu-jabs-double-risk-catching-swine-bug.html
Daily Mail
Normal flu jabs 'double the risk of catching swine bug'
By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 9:03 AM on 14th October 2009
Seasonal flu jabs could double the risk of developing swine flu, researchers have claimed.
The findings from Canada led to some states in the country delaying seasonal flu jab campaigns amid fears the recipients could be more vulnerable to a second surge of the pandemic.
The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent advisory group, says the study’s findings have not been substantiated in any other country.
The World Health Organisation has also dismissed them, and separate research suggests seasonal flu jabs might actually protect against swine flu.
Last week, GPs across the UK began their seasonal flu campaign, which aims to protect more than 15million people, including those aged over 65 and those with long-term conditions such as heart disease.
Many of these people will also be in line for priority vaccination against swine flu, due to start by the end of the month, along with NHS frontline staff.
Health chiefs are concerned that conflicting evidence about protection offered by flu jabs could deter those at risk of serious illness or dying from getting vaccinated.
The Canadian study – led by Dr Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and Dr Gaston De Serres of Laval University, Quebec – has not yet been published in a medical journal but was reported in GP newspaper.
However, the Government’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: ‘Other experts are sceptical about this finding.
‘It is not substantiated by other data worldwide, but it is something we have asked the
JCVI to look at.’
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘The JCVI has considered the Canadian report suggesting a link between seasonal influenza vaccination and susceptibility to swine flu and has unequivocally discounted its findings.
‘The World Health Organisation has also considered the report and discounted its findings.
‘The WHO’s current view is that no country should change its position on vaccines on the basis of the Canadian study.’
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Comments invited here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1220220/Normal-flu-jabs-double-risk-catching-swine-bug.html
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jabsadmin
1240 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2009 : 17:12:10
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33243690/ns/health-swine_flu?GT1=43001
Isabella, 4, is a case study in swine flu fears
Miss. preschooler was healthy, active — before she landed in intensive care
By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer
msnbc.com
updated 11:04 a.m. ET Oct. 12, 2009
A 4-year-old Mississippi girl is eating Lucky Charms cereal and singing Hannah Montana songs again, three weeks after a severe swine flu infection landed her in intensive care and jeopardized the healthy preschooler’s life.
Doctors expect Isabella Ragan to recover completely from pneumonia and lung surgery, but she is an example of what scientists say are rare but possible complications of H1N1 influenza infections — and what her parents say was their worst nightmare.
"This was emotionally crazy," said Isabella's mother, Kristina Ragan, 23, of Tishomingo, Miss. “The swine flu part wasn’t that bad, but the pneumonia came on top of that and it got the best of her.” Isabella's struggle against the H1N1 virus was submitted via FirstPerson by Donna Starkey, a family friend.
Before Sept. 20, Isabella was a T-ball-playing tomboy with no health problems, friends and family members say. But that night, she awoke crying in pain and burning up with a fever that spiked at 105 degrees.
“She was so hot, she wanted me to take her shirt off,” Kristina Ragan recalled.
The next day, doctors tested the child for H1N1 influenza and started her on a course of Tamiflu, the antiviral drug. But the medicine made Isabella sick to her stomach, and not even Popsicles could soothe her. Two days later, she was no better, so Ragan took the girl back to the doctor.
Courtesy of Donna Starkey/First Person
Isabella Ragan, 4, of Tishomingo, Miss., played T-ball days before she came down with a severe case of swine flu.
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Isabella was referred to the small local hospital, where doctors quickly realized the girl was in trouble. She was breathing rapidly and her oxygen levels were dangerously low. Soon, Isabella was on her way to Huntsville Hospital, an hour away in Alabama, where a pediatric intensive care unit was available.
When she arrived, she was a very sick little girl, Kristina Ragan recalled. “The doctor explained it would get a lot worse before it got better,” she said.
By then, Isabella had become a prime of example of what happens when swine flu goes wrong. The vast majority of illnesses caused so far by the novel flu virus have been mild, government health officials say. But in a rare proportion of cases, previously healthy people — particularly children and young adults — have become seriously ill.
A new government analysis shows that one in four people sick enough to be hospitalized with swine flu last spring had to be admitted to intensive care units and 7 percent of them died. Half of those treated in the hospital were children or teens, which is unusual. Seasonal influenza typically strikes down elderly adults.
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When to worry
Signs that swine flu is serious
Most H1N1 influenza infections in the U.S. have been very mild, resulting in illness no worse than any seasonal flu. But in rare cases, particularly involving children and young adults, the novel flu has developed rapidly into very serious illness causing hospitalization and death.
Here are the warning signs that swine flu is getting worse in kids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
— Fast breathing or difficulty breathing.
— Trouble taking fluids.
— Difficulty waking up.
— Child may start to look blue or gray.
— Child has the flu, begins to get better, and then seems to get worse.
Parents and other caregivers who see these symptoms should seek immediate medical attention.
**
Since April, 76 children younger than 18 have died following H1N1 infections, according to Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That compares to a between 46 and 88 deaths from seasonal flu in a typical year, Schuchat said.
Isabella also contracted a secondary bacterial infection, a complication found in nearly 30 percent of people who died between May 1 and Aug. 20 from swine flu, according to a recent CDC analysis.
“It could have gone into a life-threatening condition within a few days,” said Dr. Richard Clay, a Huntsville cardiothoracic surgeon who treated Isabella.
The child was placed on a ventilator, a chest tube was inserted and and she was heavily sedated to keep her from thrashing around and pulling out the equipment. Strong antibiotics worked on the infection, but for a few days, it didn’t look good.
Scraping scar tissue off of the lungs
Clay, the surgeon, said Isabella had developed a pleural effusion, a collection of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity, plus a film of scar tissue on the surface of her lungs. It’s a rare complication of the flu and a condition typically seen in adults, but not in children, he said.
The only treatment is to go in and scrape and peel the scar tissue off the lungs, Clay said. Otherwise, the scarring can harden and prevent the lungs from fully expanding, leading to further illness and, possibly, death.
In Isabella’s case, however, the child improved quickly after the invasive surgery. “Little kids, they bounce right back,” said Clay, who expects the girl to make a full recovery.
Isabella headed home last weekend, returning to a small community that has changed its mind about the seriousness of swine flu said Donna Starkey, a family friend.
“We thought it was hype,” she said. “But it can happen to you.”
Starkey has set up donation jars around town and an account at a local bank to help the Ragans pay Isabella’s medical bills. Her father, Jonathan Ragan, 23, is a welder at a local Caterpillar plant and has good insurance, said Kristina Ragan. Still, it looks like the family will owe at least $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for the child’s care, she said.
The young mother says she feels “very blessed” that her daughter survived the pandemic infection. But in a move that illustrates another swine flu trend, Kristina Ragan said that despite Isabella’s emergency illness, she probably won’t have her 2-year-old son, Christopher, immunized against swine flu.
“You just hear all the critics talk about it,” Ragan said. “I’m so nervous about it. I just don’t know what to think."
About a third of U.S. parents oppose the H1N1 vaccine, despite government efforts to encourage it, according to an Associated Press-GfK released last week.
But others in Isabella's close-knit community may reconsider the shots after seeing what the Ragans went through, said Starkey, the family friend.
"This is a bad germ," she said. "It almost took this baby's life."
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jabsadmin
1240 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2009 : 17:22:48
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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP152667.htm
China reports first death from H1N1 flu 06 Oct 2009 11:12:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Oct 6 (Reuters) - China on Tuesday reported its first death from the H1N1 flu strain after weeks on alert against the disease.
The victim, who died on Sunday, was an 18-year-old woman from the Tibetan autonomous region, who had been admitted to hospital the previous day complaining of a sore throat, cough and aches, the official Xinhua agency said.
The Health Ministry confirmed the death, but declined to comment further.
The government has reported the death to the World Health Organisation and is now rushing 200,000 doses of vaccine to remote areas, state media said.
Health Minister Chen Zhu warned last month that China faced a grim situation in containing the disease as schools start up again and the number of cases rises. [ID:nPEK102128].
The government said at the end of September that there had been nearly 20,000 reported cases of the disease across the country, but over 14,000 had fully recovered and only 10 were seriously ill.
There are already strict checks at border crossings and many places where crowds gather like karaoke parlours, and the government began a mass vaccination programme in late September, starting with around 100,000 students in Beijing.
Zhu said at the time that the government aimed to produce 26 million doses of vaccine by the end of October, and 65 million doses by the end of 2009.
Public service providers and vulnerable groups in densely populated cities and travel hubs would have priority, he added.
China's Sinovac <SVA.A> reported last month that its vaccine protected patients with a single dose [ID:nPEK368343]. (Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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Rosemary
United Kingdom
2068 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2009 : 21:49:27
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Published on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by ABC News
Drugmakers, Doctors Rake in Billions Battling H1N1 Flu
Swine Flu Is Bad for Victims, But Good for Businesses That Cater to Expanding Market
by Dalia Fahmy
Americans are still debating whether to roll up their sleeves for a swine flu shot, but companies have already figured it out: vaccines are good for business.
(ABC News) Drug companies have sold $1.5 billion worth of swine flu shots, in addition to the $1 billion for seasonal flu they booked earlier this year. These inoculations are part of a much wider and rapidly growing $20 billion global vaccine market.
"The vaccine market is booming," says Bruce Carlson, spokesperson at market research firm Kalorama, which publishes an annual survey of the vaccine industry. "It's an enormous growth area for pharmaceuticals at a time when other areas are not doing so well," he says, noting that the pipeline for more traditional blockbuster drugs such as Lipitor and Nexium has thinned.
As always with pandemic flus, taxpayers are footing the $1.5 billion check for the 250 million swine flu vaccines that the government has ordered so far and will be distributing free to doctors, pharmacies and schools. In addition, Congress has set aside more than $10 billion this year to research flu viruses, monitor H1N1's progress and educate the public about prevention.
Drug makers pocket most of the revenues from flu sales, with Sanofi-Pasteur, Glaxo Smith Kline and Novartis cornering most of the market. But it's not just drug makers who stand to benefit. Doctors collect copays for injecting shots and use them to cover office expenses and insurance. Pharmacies also charge co-pays or full price of about $25 to those without insurance and often make more money if patients end up shopping for other goods.
"Flu shots present a good opportunity to bring new customers into our stores," says Cassie Richardson, spokesperson for SUPERVALU, one of the country's largest supermarket chains. Drawing customers to the back of a store, where pharmacies are often located, offers retailers a chance to pitch products that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Even companies outside of the medical industry are benefiting: the UPS division that delivers vaccines in specially designed containers, for example, has seen a bump in business.
Continued:-
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/10/14-1
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Rosemary
United Kingdom
2068 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2009 : 23:45:22
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Army first in line to get cutting-edge swine flu shot
Published: 12 Oct 09 15:00 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091012-22523.html
The German army has ordered a stock of special swine flu vaccine that does not contain controversial additives that will be given to the general public, the Defence Ministry confirmed on Monday
The announcement came in response to a report in daily Westfalen-Blatt, which said that Bundeswehr soldiers and their families on foreign deployments or preparing for missions overseas would receive the inoculations.
The A/H1N1 flu shots given to soldiers will contain neither a controversial strengthening additive, nor the preservative agent mercury, both of which are contained in the shots for the general public.
Additive-free Celvapan, manufactured by the US pharmaceutical company Baxter, was approved on October 6 for use in the European Union.
Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said the Bundeswehr needs to be able to quickly and impartially inoculate soldiers and their dependants on foreign missions to ensure they were protected.
Raabe said that not all of the Bundeswehr‘s 250,000 soldiers could be vaccinated at once, but added it is important that the 7,200 troops on foreign missions receive the first shots, he said.
Some doctors have warned of unforeseeable side effects to the other EU-approved vaccines Pandemrix, made by British firm GlaxoSmithKline, and Focetria, manufactured by Swiss company Novartis.
However, there are no studies comparing the side effects, according to the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which oversees drug registration and safety in Germany.
The president of Germany's Association of Children’s and Young People’s Physicians (BVKJ), Wolfram Hartmann, told the Westfalen-Blatt that the vaccines committee of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin had reacted with surprise to the Bundeswehr’s “solo approach.”
He called for children aged six months to six years to also be given the additive-free shots. |
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informed
Ireland
93 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2009 : 14:53:06
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H1N1 VACCINE PANDEMRIX GlaxoSmithKline
4.6 Pregnancy and Lactation
States There are currently no data available on the use of Pandemrix
in pregnancy.
So how can the medical profession be told it is safe to administer
this vaccine to pregnant women.
Irish Vaccine Informed Parents |
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Emerald
298 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2009 : 16:12:15
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Britain to start swine flu vaccination next week
Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:21am EDT
* Hospital vaccination from Oct 21, in community from Oct 26
* Patients to get Glaxo's H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Britain will start a vaccination programme against H1N1 swine flu next week, the country's chief medical officer said on Thursday.
"The programme will be rolling from next week," Liam Donaldson told reporters.
A total of 415,000 doses of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) Pandemrix shot will be delivered from Oct. 21 to immunise high-risk patients in hospitals and front-line healthcare workers.
From the week beginning Oct. 26, 4.4 million doses of the same vaccine will be delivered to general practitioners for patients in priority groups, officials added.
The government has previously said the first to be immunised would be about 5 million people aged over six months in current seasonal flu risk groups, all pregnant women, contacts of people with compromised immune systems, and about 2 million health and social care workers.
Britain has bought supplies of swine flu vaccine from both Glaxo and Baxter (BAX.N). (Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Ben Hirschler)
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUKLF60853720091015 |
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Seonaid
United Kingdom
1361 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2009 : 23:13:49
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Mums-To-Be In Swine Flu Jab Controversy
http://bit.ly/3k1Iqp
Pregnant women in Britain are to get a form of swine flu vaccine that is not recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The vaccine Pandemrix, which makes up the bulk of NHS supply, contains a chemical called an adjuvant that has never been tested on mums-to-be.
According to the WHO Strategic Advisory Group, pregnant women should be given adjuvant-free formulations of the vaccine whenever possible.
But the Department of Health's Director of Immunisations Professor David Salisbury said that even though the NHS has stocks of an alternative vaccine called Celvapan, it will not be prioritised for pregnant women
He said: "If the virus is increasing, as it has been recently and we had the supply of one vaccine ahead of the other, then we have to make a judgement that says pregnant women are at high risk and they need to be protected.
"And in those circumstances I would recommend whatever is available to hand to protect them."
The Department of Health says pregnant women are four times more likely to suffer serious complications if they catch swine flu and vaccination is essential.
It insists Pandemrix is safe and licensed for mums-to-be.
However, the licence was granted by medicine regulators based on clinical trials in healthy adults.
University College London vaccine expert Dr Tarit Mukhopadhyay said there was no evidence of harm from adjuvants, but added that in the absence of formal clinical trials in pregnancy, they should not be used.
He said: "We don't know what could go wrong.
"There could be overstimulation of the immune system or actually nothing may go wrong at all.
"The problem is that not enough pregnant women have had this adjuvant tested on them. So we are going to err on the side of caution and recommend pregnant women take the unadjuvanted vaccine instead."
The controversy will do nothing to ease the concerns that pregnant women already have about vaccination.
Natalie Lisbona, who is 30 weeks pregnant, said: "There are no tests on pregnant women, so what is it going to do to the foetus?
"There doesn't seem to be clear evidence at the moment. They have rushed this vaccine through so quickly."
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Bob
United Kingdom
3 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2009 : 01:14:39
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Question.
I do not study or research this topic so please forgive my seeming lack of knowledge on it but I have a question or two.
They say that the newest flu (Swine flu) as with others is a 'mutation' of other strains.
What I want to know is:
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THIS STRAIN (like all other 'NEW' strains) HAS ALWAYS EXISTED - BUT ONLY JUST BEEN DISCOVERED?
Speaking regarding my own country I know that probably 85% of the people who have been diagnosed with some form of flu by their GP over the last 10 years (if not for ever) have been done so without their doctor taking samples for analysis.
A case of "you've got the flu, wrap up, take this and take that and stay in bed!"
How many of them for the last 10 years or even 100 years might have had SWINE FLU?
Who would ever know?
My uneducated and uninformed opinion sees some gap in logic surrounding this. A bit like the clever world of anthroplogy and all its Discovery channel friends claiming that man originated in the rift valley because the oldest skeleton was found there.
They haven't dug up Russia or China yet - might be an older one in my back garden. The rift valley skeleton might share DNA of the rest of us because it descended from someone from Europe who went walkabout.
I agree with what the poster wrote about the eldeley residents in the care home.
W£ ALL KNOW WHAT$ GOING ON
I believe (in the UK) we've had 104 deaths from Swine Flu this year.
That's 104 from an average of 12,000 - that's 1 in 115 flue deaths so far.
Seeing as people who die from flu (most likely the eldeley and sick (as we are told) don't usually have autopsies how do we know that 1 in 115 of people dying from flu for the last 200 years didn't die of Swine flu, or Bird flu etc etc.
I think my point is a gap in logic related to the discovery arguement.
You're going to have to handcuff me and carry me to the doctors to get a jab for this one (after anaethetising me).
It could well be a Bio-terror outbreak but the word outbreak is well chosen (as opposed to the word 'attack').
I'm not even going to mention US Biological Weapons programs / Japanese War criminals and a Korean theatre of practice.
What did happen to Colonel Cyril Wild?
"The truth is the truth, the blind lead the blind, and the rich give them maps"
Gildas Atheling
Author of 2058 - No Word of Warning.
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Emerald
298 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2009 : 09:40:04
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Swine flu: Chief medical officer admits concern at spike in critical cases
• Number of new diagnoses rises 50% in a week
• Postal strike may delay patients' access to vaccine
More than 100 people have died from swine flu and intensive care beds are filling up with victims, the government's chief medical officer revealed today.
A sharp rise in the proportion of hospital patients needing critical care is a matter "of some concern", Sir Liam Donaldson admitted as he unveiled the national vaccination programme due to start next week.
High-risk patients and frontline health workers in hospitals will be the first to be inoculated from 21 October. More than 4m doses of Pandemrix will be delivered to GP surgeries the following week so that patients in priority groups can be given protective injections.
A national postal strike could disrupt the process severely, Donaldson warned, saying it could prevent doctors from sending out letters to vulnerable patients to invite them in for vaccination.
"We are worried about the postal strike," the chief medical officer said. "GPs need to send letters out to patients. [A strike] would be an extremely unwelcome piece of timing. We need to get people into GPs' surgeries to give them this life-saving vaccine."
There were about 27,000 new cases of swine flu last week, an increase on the 18,000 new cases in the previous week. There have now been 106 deaths in the UK connected to the virus: 83 in England, 15 in Scotland, four in Wales and four in Northern Ireland.
Two of the latest people to die were pregnant women, a group emerging as a particularly at risk in the outbreak.
David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health, dismissed fears that the "adjuvants" – material added to the vaccine to boost the body's immune response – would harm pregnant women.
The Pandemrix vaccine, he said, would provide virtually immediate immunity and guard against a broader spectrum of flu viruses.
Freshly issued advice from the World Health Organisation today confirmed that "the GSK [Pandemrix] vaccine has been licensed for use in pregnant women in Europe as of September 2009". Salisbury promised, however, to review the data.
There are 364 people in British hospitals with H1N1 swine flu, of whom 74 are in intensive care. "This is the highest proportion [of hospital patients] needing critical care since this all began," Donaldson said. "Most of the time it's been around 12% or 13%. Now it's up to 20%.
"We are seeing more serious cases than before but no sign of any change in the virus. This is giving me some concern. There's a school of thought that when a flu virus is operating in the summer it's milder than when it's operating in the flu season without a change in the virus.
"We don't understand why. We are doing a more detailed study of hospital patients," Donaldson said.
The Ministry of Defence announced that 15,000 doses of the vaccine would be delivered to the 9,000 UK troops serving in Afghanistan.
"We can't afford to have soldiers off with flu if we can prevent that," said an MoD spokesman.
No cases have yet been reported among servicemen there. The Department of Health is reviewing whether any other groups should be deemed high-risk categories and given early vaccinations against swine flu.
Among the latest deaths was a pregnant teenager from southern Scotland, whose unborn child also died. The 17-year-old was being treated in a hospital in the Borders region.
Her death was the latest in a series in Scotland: four deaths were reported in one 48-hour period earlier this week.
Health officials in Wales said that a pregnant woman, aged 21, from Monmouthshire, died in intensive care after a planned caesarean section. Three deaths were reported in Wales in 24 hours. Six pregnant women have now died from the virus in the UK.
Another pregnant woman who contracted the virus, Sharon Pentleton, has given birth to a son at Crosshouse hospital in Kilmarnock. In July, when she was six months pregnant, she was airlifted from Ayrshire for highly specialised treatment in Sweden which oxygenated her blood outside her body.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, yesterday urged pregnant women to take the new H1N1 vaccine to ensure they had "maximum protection" for themselves and their babies.
Vaccination schedule
• 21 October 415,000 doses of the vaccine Pandremix will be given to high-risk patients in hospitals and to frontline health workers.
• Week beginning 26 October 4.4 million doses of Pandremix to be delivered to GPs. Doctors will inoculate patients in priority groups – such as those with compromised immune systems and pregnant women.
• At the same time 236,500 doses of Pandremix and 49,200 doses of another vaccine, Celvapan, will be sent to NHS primary care trusts.
• The World Health Organisation has backed the use of Pandremix for pregnant women despite claims ingredients have not been sufficiently tested on expectant mothers-to-be
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/15/swine-flu-critical-cases-rise |
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Seonaid
United Kingdom
1361 Posts |
Posted - 10/17/2009 : 23:32:46
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New "overload" fears as swine flu jab is added to routine childhood vaccines
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1221153/New-overload-fears-swine-flu-jab-added-routine-childhood-vaccines.html
Mail on Sunday
New ‘overload’ fears as swine flu jab is added to routine childhood vaccinesBy Beezy Marsh
Last updated at 12:17 AM on 18th October 2009
Comments (17) Add to My Stories
Jab: The Government has said that all vaccinations can be given with the swine flu vaccine
The swine flu vaccine will be given to children at the same time as routine jabs – despite the fact there is no evidence the combination is safe.
There are fears that children will be at risk of unknown side effects because safety trials into using the jabs together have yet to be carried out.
The plan has also added to concerns about ‘overloading’ young immune systems with multiple inoculations.
Government experts have ruled that all vaccinations – including those against measles, mumps, rubella, meningitis C, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, Hib disease and pneumococcal infection – can be given with the swine flu vaccine to children over six months old.
The Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided that because the swine flu vaccine does not contain a ‘live’ virus, it can safely be given with other jabs.
The first wave of a national vaccination scheme against swine flu is set to begin next week, with children who have underlying health problems such as asthma and diabetes among the first to be treated.
The JCVI ruling means these ‘high-risk’ youngsters who are also due for routine jabs could now receive them along with their swine flu vaccine.
Campaigners have already voiced concerns that the recommended programme of more than 20 inoculations, including two doses of the MMR injection, by the age of four puts too much strain on children’s immune systems.
GP Dr Richard Halvorsen, medical director of the Babyjabs clinic in Central London, said last night: ‘There is not a shred of evidence about the potential effects of combining all these childhood jabs with the swine flu vaccine. They simply have not had time to carry out tests.’
The swine flu vaccine has been fast-tracked through normal licensing procedures and the first volunteer children in a UK study received their shots last week.
Neurologists have been warned by the Health Protection Agency to look out for Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) – where paralysis of the breathing muscles can cause death by suffocation.
A mass vaccination programme against swine flu in the US in 1976 saw hundreds of GBS cases and 25 deaths, although a direct link to the vaccine, which is different from the current jab, was never proved.
Jackie Fletcher, of the campaign group Justice Awareness and Basic Support, believes the move to combine vaccines is ‘reckless’.
She said: ‘If there is a bad reaction for a child, how will doctors be able to identify which vaccine component is to blame?’
At a meeting in August, the JCVI stated that giving the swine flu jab with other vaccines is safe because it contains a ‘dead’ virus.
But it advised that the flu injection be given in a different limb from other jabs to minimise localised reactions such as swelling.
The Department of Health said last night: ‘It is irresponsible to suggest the UK would use a vaccine without careful consideration of safety issues.
‘The swine flu vaccine will not interfere with other vaccines, whether they are administered at the same time or not. Vaccines would not be licensed if they were considered unsafe – they go through a rigorous licensing process and are carefully assessed for safety.’
Comments invited here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1221153/New-overload-fears-swine-flu-jab-added-routine-childhood-vaccines.html
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jabsadmin
1240 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2009 : 10:29:43
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http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/lawsuit-seeks-to-halt-us-swine-flu-vaccination-campaign-1803697.html
Independent on Sunday
Lawsuit seeks to halt US swine flu vaccination campaign
Relax News
Thursday, 15 October 2009
New York medical staff took legal action Thursday to halt a massive swine flu inoculation program being rolled out across the United States, claiming the vaccines have not been properly tested.
Lawyers for the group filed a temporary restraining order in a Washington federal court against government medical regulators they claim rushed H1N1 vaccines to the public without adequately testing their safety and efficacy.
"None of the vaccines against H1N1 have been properly tested," attorney Jim Turner, one of half a dozen lawyers working on the case, told AFP.
The suit was brought on behalf of a group of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel in New York, where health care professionals who see patients are required to be vaccinated against H1N1, Turner said.
If the complaint is upheld, it would stop the roll-out of the H1N1 vaccine nationwide, said Turner, who accused public health officials of hyping the swine flu outbreak but failing to back up their stance with adequate testing of the vaccine.
"Officials have said the virus is so much like the ordinary flu virus that they don't need to do special new drug testing on it because it's just the same old virus with a minor change to it," said Turner.
"We're saying, if that's the case, then all the hype about this thing being a worldwide threat is misplaced and they've stampeded the state of New York into taking an action they never would have taken if it were just another flu."
Last week, some 2.4 million doses of nasal spray vaccine made of greatly weakened, but live, H1N1 virus were delivered to state and local health authorities around the United States.
This week, even larger stocks of injectable vaccine were delivered and administered to people in groups deemed to be at particular risk from swine flu, including children and health care professionals.
US public health officials want to vaccinate tens of millions of Americans by year's end against swine flu, which has claimed more than 4,500 lives worldwide since an outbreak of H1N1 was first reported in Mexico in April.
kdz/arb/jm
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jabsadmin
1240 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2009 : 10:41:02
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http://news10now.com/cny-news-1013-content/top_stories/485282/nurses-react-to-h1n1-ruling
Nurses react to H1N1 ruling
By: Britt Godshalk
Friday's ruling is a victory for health care workers around the state who have been rallying against the H1N1 vaccine mandate. Britt Godshalk has reaction from an area nurse.
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jabsadmin
1240 Posts |
Posted - 10/18/2009 : 10:42:35
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http://capitalnews9.com/capital-region-news-12-content/top_stories/
16 October 2009
Temporary restraining order blocks flu-shot mandate
ALBANY
A Supreme Court judge in Albany has granted a temporary restraining order, blocking the mandate requiring health care workers to receive the seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines. Kim Lengle has the details.
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Swine Flu Outbreak
