Child influenza shot alert
April 23, 2010
DOCTORS are being urged to
halt the administration of all
seasonal flu vaccines, following a
move by the WA government to
suspend its free vaccination
program for children under 5yrs.
The halt comes as a result of an
unusually high number of adverse
high fever reactions to the vaccine,
which saw 22 children hospitalised
within 12 hours of getting the shot
for febrile convulsions.
It is unclear whether the reaction
is due to a bad batch, or whether
the larger number of children
getting the free vaccine in WA,
which is not offered in other states, has just naturally lead to more
cases of adverse reaction.
The suspension and general
warning to doctors will stay in place
until the TGA has had time to
investigate the matter further.
Chief Medical Officer, Prof Jim
Bishop, said the TGA had already
contacted CSL to confirm which
batches of vaccine were used in WA
as well as reviewing data from WA
Health “to see if the rates of fever
and convulsions are truly higher
than expected”.
He said the information would be
reviewed by a specially convened
scientific advisory panel.
Bishop also said people over five
years of age can continue to be
vaccinated against seasonal
influenza as per usual.
He said there do not appear to be
implications for the swine flu
vaccine Panvax.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 23 Apr 10To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 23 Apr 10
