Parents are worried about the swine flu vaccine

Parents are confused and concerned about the swine flu vaccine due to be introduced in October.
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
The Telegraph
Aug. 17, 2009

Must see Old 60 Minutes Exposé On 1976 Swine Flu Propaganda, Debilitating VaccinesParents talking on the internet forums have expressed some concern about the H1N1 vaccine that will be offered to children and adults with underlying health conditions and pregnant women as priorities.

Fears raised include its safety for pregnant women, whether the vaccine has been tested enough and the fact one of them contains a controversial mercury preservative.

One mum posted: "Absolutely no way would I allow my son to be vaccinated, he's not a guinea pig."

Another said: "This strain seems to be mild but they are predicting that the second strain will be alot worse especially with it being flu season. Plus if it mutates we could be in serious trouble if we are not vaccinated."

Justine Roberts, Co-founder of mumsnet.com said: "Lots of mums on Mumsnet are questioning whether giving the swine flu vaccine to their children is a good idea. Some are worried about how well it's been tested, others about it's effectiveness and side effects."

The GlaxoSmithKline vaccine contains thiomersal which was linked to neurological disorders and autism in the 1990s but has since been extensive tested and no evidence of harm has been found.

Its use was phased out of most vaccines, however it is being used in the GSK vaccine to make it last longer and avoid wastage.

Prof David Salisbury, head of immunisation at the Department of Health, said the vaccines will arrive in vials containing about ten doses as it is not feasible to produce or store single-dose preloaded syringes on the scale needed to vaccine the 11m people who will be offered the vaccine between October and December.

He said, if only one or two doses in a vial are used on one day the GSK vaccine can be stored overnight in the fridge and the remaining doses used the next day. However the Baxter vaccine, which does not contain thiomersal, would have to be thrown away if the whole vial's contents were not used within three hours, he added.

Pregnant women on the forums had mixed views with some saying they are eager to be vaccinated against swine flu while others were circumspect.

Prof Salisbury said the vaccine will be offered to pregnant women who are at greater risk of complications if they contract flu, data from Britain and America has shown.

The European Medicines Agency will decide on whether the vaccine is offered to women at all stages of pregnancy or only in the second or third trimester when the risks of swine flu to both mother and baby are higher.

Prof Salisbury said concerns about vaccines during pregnancy are based on theorectical risks that a live virus vaccine could affect the feotus but extensive tested with the rubella vaccine had not found any evidence of this. He added that the H1N1 vaccines are not live anyway but contain an inactivated version of swine flu.

He said: "We are taking a sensible approach to vaccinate people who are at greatest risk from swine flu first. For people with risk factors the flu may not be mild at all."

He said the products are based on pre-pandemic vaccines using the H5N1 bird flu virus, which have been extensively trialled. The manufacturers have then switched the flu H5N1 flu strain for the current H1N1 swine flu change, in the same way as the seasonal flu vaccines are altered each year to match the current circulating strain.

In addition to this new trials are now beginning using the H1N1 vaccines covering all age groups.

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline said: "The World Health Organisation has recommended that for vaccines which come in multidose vials, manufacturers use a preservative to enable doctors to withdraw several doses from the same vial.

"There have been many studies conducted over decades of research which suggest that thiomersal has a good safety profile and is well tolerated. It is essential that a preservative is used in vaccines such as this to avoid wastage."

He said there was no alternative to thiomersal as a preservative for vaccines of this kind.