Mass H1N1 immunisation 'inappropriate'

6 April 2010 by Simone Roberts

The mass vaccination program for swine flu has come under fire from an infectious disease expert who says the risk of serious side effects was greater than any potential benefit for half the Australian population.

Writing in the latest issue of Australian Prescriber, Professor Peter Collignon, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit and Microbiology Department at The Canberra Hospital, said the Government's response to the virus was "inappropriate", fuelled by fears about its spread that were out of proportion to the real threat posed by the disease.

"Overall, swine flu has been associated with fewer deaths than seasonal influenza and is of low virulence," he wrote.

Professor Collignon said the risk of side effects from the vaccine was greater than any potential benefit for 50 per cent of the Australian population, who were likely already immune because of pre-existing immunity or recent infection.

"In any mass vaccination campaign, those who are already immune are unlikely to get additional benefits from the vaccine, but remain at risk of adverse effects," he wrote.

"In young people without risk factors, the rates of death and complications last winter from swine flu were very low and are similar to the risk of serious vaccine-associated adverse effects such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and anaphylaxis."

According to Prof Collignon, around 50 per cent of people who received the H1N1 vaccine in the Australian trial had mild to moderate systemic adverse effects and 1.7 per cent had adverse effects recorded as severe.

In children, 20 per cent had moderate to severe systemic adverse effects after receiving a single 15 microgram dose of vaccine.

"It is very important that we make sure we do more good than harm with any vaccine," Prof Collignon said, calling for large, prospective long-term studies on the safety and efficacy of influenza vaccines before embarking on further mass immunisation programs.

Prof Collignon also criticised the use of multidose vials in the vaccination program, saying it put patients at "needless additional risk" of contracting infections such as Staphylococcus aureus, hepatitis B and HIV.

http://www.pharmacynews.com.au/Article/mass-h1n1-immunisation-inappropriate/514894.aspx

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Recently I took my daughter to a GP, ( simply required asthma inhaler prescriptions was not her regular paediatrician)...when he asked if she had received her H1N1 shot.

I responded with no, she hasn't, when he said (and did not ask) that he would give her a flu shot while she was here.
I said no, no thank you very much, we only came for the prescriptions, when clearly disgruntled he advised she's an asthmatic, and should be vaccinated.

I then flung into a spool re- microbiology, how strains of influenza deviate from year to year and that even if she did receive "last years shot", there was no guarantee that this would protect her from this up in coming seasons influenza strain, at which point he asked me if I was from the medical profession. I felt like messing with him, playing ignorant, this and denouncing his wildly held belief that the general public are as ignorant as GP's often believe them to be, this and probably would have said no if my chirpy daughter had not been with me at my side, when up came "My mummy used to be a nurse"... *bugger*...that's the last time I'm taking this kid anywhere honestly ..... I could have had so much fun debating with him had he not known I was armed.

Bloody kids!

mornin c u n t

Morning shit for brains...