Australia Flu Vaccine for Children Suspension #2 compilation

[Guest guest]

Australia - Flu Shots Suspended for Children after Injuries

 

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/flu-vaccination-ban-goes-national-after-fever-convulsions-in-children-20100423-tglp.html

Flu vaccination ban goes national after fever, convulsions in

children

***********

from a listmember in AUSTRALIA

" However Perth GP Dr Joe Kosterich says the program was unnecessary,

and that authorities had created a swine flu “scare campaign†in a

mild flu season. The anti-vaccination lobby would be having a “field

dayâ€, he says. "

Amazing how there are now 60 adverse reactions in WA, 41 in Qld. (Why

weren't these reported to the public by Qld. Health?) and 1 in SA,

however Perth GP Dr. Joe Kosterich has a concern about how the

anti-vaccination lobby would be reacting to the news.

 

http://www.6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=516045

*************

" The number of children suffering adverse reactions after receiving

the free seasonal flu vaccine may be severely underestimated because

health authorities have no way of monitoring people's reactions, experts

say. "

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/23/2881522.htm

Flu jab scare sparks call for surveillance system

excerpt

" Surveillance system

He says Australia should take note of vaccination research carried out in

other countries.

" In Canada, they found to everybody's surprise that people who had

been injected with the seasonal flu vaccine in 2008/2009 had twice the

risk of getting swine flu if they were under the age of 50, " he

said.

" That's also happened in Santiago.

" So I actually think whenever we're doing a vaccine that is given on

a yearly basis that's involving millions of people, we do need to have a

good ongoing surveillance system. "

Professor Collignon says an effective surveillance system should monitor

thousands of people for one or two weeks after vaccination before rolling

out the vaccine to the entire population.

And he says such a system would be relatively inexpensive.

" We need a better system than voluntary notification to the TGA

[Therapeutic Goods Administration] that there's a problem, " he

said.

" Because whenever you do that you really underestimate how much of a

problem there is.

" If we are going to roll out vaccines to entire populations I think

there is an onus on us to at least check in a number of thousands of

people before we roll it out to millions of people. "

********

 

Child flu vaccine reactions mystery

 

 

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/was-free-influenza-vaccination-program-has-been-suspended-for-children-under-five/story-e6frg12c-1225857140885

 

Free flu vaccines suspended for children under five

 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/fevers-in-60-children-linked-to-flu-vaccine-20100423-tinv.html

Fevers in 60 children linked to flu vaccine

April 23, 2010 - 4:42PM

More than 60 West Australian children may have had adverse reactions to

the flu vaccine, the state's health department says.

West Australian Health Minister Kim Hames announced yesterday that

vaccinations for children under the age of five would be halted after a

number of reactions to the three-strain vaccine, which includes swine

flu.

Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop today said health

professionals nationwide should immediately stop immunising children

under five with the vaccine, as a precaution.

West Australian Health Department chief health officer Tarun Weeramanthri

said a higher-than-expected number of reactions to the vaccine, which is

offered free by the state government to children under five, had been

reported.

The Princess Margaret children's hospital (PMH) had reported 44 children

under 10 had presented with febrile convulsions, of which 23 related to

the paediatric flu vaccine.

Of the 23 children, 12 were admitted to hospital.

One child is in a critical condition following their reaction to the

vaccine.

Dr Weeramanthri said he had few details on the child's condition but that

they were " seriously ill " .

The average age of children who had reactions to the vaccine was about

two years, but children aged between five and 10 also experienced fevers

and convulsions.

Dr Weeramanthri said another 40 children under 10 had been taken to other

hospitals in the state with febrile convulsions, and work was being done

to assess if there was a link to the vaccine.

" Advice from West Australian clinicians has said that there is a

consistent clinical picture that they're seeing, with fever and vomiting

around six hours and certainly within 12 hours of vaccination, " he

said.

The West Australian health department is working with other states and

territories to compile data, but there have been no reports of a spike in

reactions to the vaccine in other states.

" It's important to get an estimate of both how many have been

vaccinated and how many children have potentially had reactions, " Dr

Weeramanthri said.

The department and the Therapeutic Goods Administration had honed in on

what they thought the cause of the increased reactions was, Dr

Weeramanthri said.

" The Therapeutic Goods Administration is working with the

manufacturers on two lines of inquiry, " he said.

" One is the data from around the country about where we're getting

any signals of increased reactions and which batches went where.

" The second is to actually directly test the batches held by the

various manufacturers for any impurities. "

There had been no reports of an increased reaction rate to the single

pandemic swine flu strain vaccine.

" So whether this is an issue about the combination of antigens ...

in this vaccine, which has three parts compared to a single vaccine, is

something that TGA is looking at, " Dr Weeramanthri said.

" That's the first time that particular antigen has been included,

but one must remember that the strains of flu change regularly and so

there are regular changes in the formulation of the flu

vaccine. "

The West Australian Health Department had responded appropriately to the

reaction and in a timely fashion, Dr Weeramanthri said.

" As soon as we got information from clinicians, particularly at PMH

this week that they were concerned they were seeing something more than

what they normally see, and people have to understand there is a normal

incidence of febrile reactions after vaccination in children.

" Once we got that information we acted as promptly as we

could. "

National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance clinical

research head Professor Robert Booy said the experience was that children

around Australia had demonstrated a good tolerance for the

vaccine.

Dr Weeramanthri said he was hopeful a safe vaccination program could be

provided once the safety of the vaccine could be ensured.

Case in South Australia

One young child has suffered a convulsive reaction to the seasonal flu

vaccine in South Australia, health officials say.

But chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said it was still to be

determined if one or more components of the vaccine were the cause of the

South Australian case and the spike in cases reported in Western

Australia.

" There's no evidence at all that there's any particular linkage, at

this stage, to any of the components because we don't even know if it's

absolutely linked to the vaccine, " Professor Phillips said.

" Clearly there's a suspicion and that's why we're playing it safe

and suspending the vaccine for five and unders. "

***************

 

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/gps-stop-flu-vaccine-for-young-children/story-e6freuyi-1225857531340

 

 

GPs stop flu vaccine for young children

The Daily Telegraph

April 23, 2010 3:52PM

QUEENSLAND Health has moved to stop GPs and vaccine providers from giving

all children under the age of five the seasonal flu vaccine.

The move comes after Western Australia and New South Wales today

suspended the vaccination of all children after several became seriously

ill after being given the vaccine, The Daily Telegraph reports.

So far this year 41 cases of adverse reactions to the seasonal flu

vaccine have been reported in Queensland alone.

Of those, 15 have been in children aged five years and under, with

symptoms including high temperatures and febrile convulsions.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

Related Coverage

WA flu vaccine crisis spreads Perth Now, 3 hours ago

Drug regulator checking flu jab safety NEWS.com.au, 4 hours ago

Probe on flu shots after kids fall ill Herald Sun, 6 hours ago

Kids' flu jabs suspended Adelaide Now, 6 hours ago

Flu jab ban after kids get sick Courier Mail, 8 hours ago

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

One child required hospitalisation but was later released.

Queensland's chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said the figures

were higher than usual for so early in the flu season.

" We are definitely seeing something going on but we don't know what

that is,'' she said.

Dr Young said Queensland Health was being ``super cautious'' but had

decided to follow the warnings from the commonwealth chief medical

officer, who strongly recommended that the seasonal flu vaccine not be

given to children aged five years and under.

" I totally agree with that approach ... but there may be nothing

wrong,'' she said.

" It maybe just there are cases being notified and that really they

are not out of the ordinary.

" Until we know that, we are just asking people to halt and we will

get the information together as quickly as we can.''

Children who have received the first needle should not have the

second.

Symptoms should be evident within 12 hours of having the

vaccine.