In the first quarter of this year nearly 300 children across Australia fell ill with fevers, vomiting and convulsions following administration of the seasonal flu vaccine.
There was also a reported death of a two year old after vaccination. Following this further vaccinations were suspended in under-fives and a large scale investigation was started. Health Minister Kim Hames last month had announced a review that would examine issue and report to relevant authorities. An interim report from the review will be completed in the next few days but will not be made public.
The preliminary results of the investigation are out. It shows that this year the number of kids who developed fever, vomiting and other side effects from flu shots was nine times higher than previous years.
The authority on monitoring such matters Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) now reports that nine children among every 1,000 vaccinated with flu shots this year developed the side effects. The results of the report are worrying the health authorities in a big way said Australian Medical Association (AMA), Andrew Pesce. “There's no way that we would want to see this happen again and I'm sure that there will be a lot of work continuing to try to find what the explanation is for this higher-than-expected reaction,” Dr Pesce said.
At present further tests are being conducted by the United States' Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia since the actual cause for the side effects is still not clear.
Infectious diseases clinician Professor Peter Collignon, from the Australian National University (ANU) has also said that more testing should have been performed before these shots were administered to kids. “All the studies that have been done on this vaccine have been done in relatively small numbers of children - I think only about 168 children under the age of three… There is a real lack of data on both the safety and how effective they are,” Professor Collignon said. Dr Pesce defended by saying, “I don't believe that anyone has neglected their responsibilities in terms of testing procedures which need to have been applied,” he said. However Professor Collignon said, “I believe we need an ongoing program that measures for instance what's happening in the first 1,000 or 2,000 children receiving the vaccine - particularly when its formulation has been changed - by parents for instance keeping a diary for the first seven days so that we can detect if we're getting much higher rates of side effects than we were expecting…That would have prevented many, many of these adverse reactions occurring, because we would have had an early warning system.”
As a result of all this debate the vaccine's manufacturer, CSL Biotherapies has removed the unused doses of the pediatric vaccine from clinics and pharmacies and has written to doctors to warn them of the increased reports of side effects. Further suspension of the vaccinations in under-fives is being considered by the WA Health Department. Many including Professor Jim Bishop believe that the ban should continue. This announcement will mean that vaccinations will remain suspended for rest of the flu season. “Where a child aged under five has medical risk factors that would cause serious health effects for the child if they got the flu, parents should discuss with their doctor whether, on clinical evaluation of the risks and benefits, a seasonal flu vaccination would be the best option,” Professor Bishop said. He also assured that Australian health authorities are working in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the cause of the adverse effects further.
The health department's communicable disease control director Dr. Paul Armstrong however warned that elderly, adults and kids over six who are at risk of flu should get vaccinated.
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