# 5281
Amid the brewing controversy over the supposed link between GSK’s Pandemrix Vaccine and an increase in narcolepsy among children and adolescents in Finland and Sweden, we get different report from China which provides us with far more reassuring data.
Here, researchers looked for adverse reactions among 90 million recipients of China’s non-adjuvanted split-viron pandemic vaccine (By comparison, Pandemrix was an adjuvanted vaccine).
While some vaccine activists predicted huge increases in post vaccination Guillain Barre Syndrome, and warned that the vaccine would be `deadlier than the virus’, the reality has been quite different.
Researchers found no pattern of serious side effects, and no increase in Guillain Barre Syndrome.
In fact, the rate of GBS among those vaccinated was below the normal `background rate’ for the disease.
The study, led by Dr. Yu Wang - from the Chinese CDC - collected data on adverse reactions from doctors across China.
89.6 million doses of H1N1 vaccine were administered, with a total of 8,067 adverse events reported; a rate of about 90 adverse reaction per 1 million shots.
Not all of those reactions proved to be related to the shot, and when the outliers were eliminated, only 6,552 adverse reactions were attributed to the jab, or just over 73 per million doses.
And of those, more than 67.8% were considered minor; not involving hospitalization, death, life-threatening illness, or permanent disability
Of 1,083 people with more serious reactions, 1050 (96.9%) were allergic reactions of one sort or another, likely due to the ovalbumin, thimerosal, or other ingredients of the vaccine,
29 other cases with more serious vaccine reactions (rate .3 per 1 million doses) had neurologic reactions, including 8 cases with Guillain–Barré syndrome (which was lower than the expected baseline rate of GBS).
While 10 sudden deaths were reported within 9 days of vaccination, all but one had serious pre-existing medical issues including: Coronary artery disease (5), aortic aneurysm (1), decompensated hepatic cirrhosis and liver failure (1), stroke & cerebral herniation (1).
The entire study was published online in the NEJM today.
Safety of Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine in Postmarketing Surveillance in China
Xiao-Feng Liang, M.D., Li Li, M.D., Ph.D., Da-Wei Liu, M.D., Ke-Li Li, M.D., Wen-Di Wu, M.D., Bao-Ping Zhu, M.D., Hua-Qing Wang, M.D., Ph.D., Hui-Ming Luo, M.D., Ling-Sheng Cao, M.D., Jing-Shan Zheng, M.D., Da-Peng Yin, M.D., Lei Cao, M.P.H., Bing-Bing Wu, M.D., Hong-Hong Bao, M.D., Di-Sha Xu, M.D., Wei-Zhong Yang, M.D., and Yu Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
February 2, 2011 (10.1056/NEJMoa1008553)
Background
On September 21, 2009, China began administering vaccines, obtained from 10 different manufacturers, against 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in priority populations. We aimed to assess the safety of this vaccination program.
Methods
We designed a plan for passive surveillance for adverse events after immunization with the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine. Physicians or vaccination providers were required to report the numbers of vaccinees and all adverse events to their local Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which then reported the data to the Chinese CDC through the online National Immunization Information System's National Adverse Event Following Immunization Surveillance System. Data were collected through March 21, 2010, and were verified and analyzed by the Chinese CDC.
Conclusions
No pattern of adverse events that would be of concern was observed after the administration of influenza A (H1N1) vaccine, nor was there evidence of an increased risk of the Guillain–Barré syndrome.
Related Post:
- Seroprevalence Study: Avian Flu In Chinese Pigs
- China Reports H5N1 Outbreak In Poultry
- V Said, C Said
- Taiwan Seizes H5N1 Infected Birds
- China: H5N1 Reported In Poultry
- China Reporting H5N1 In Poultry
- Global H5N1 Blind Spots
- Study: Dual Receptor Binding H5N1 Viruses In China
- China: Hebei Outbreak Identified As Adenovirus 55
- FluTrackers: Assessment Of H5N1 In China
- China Reports 2nd Bird Flu Fatality In A Month
- ECDC: Rapid Risk Assessment On China’s H5N1 Fatality
- WHO Updates: Bird Flu In China, Egypt
- China Seeks To Reassure On Bird Flu
- Route Of Shenzhen Bird Flu Infection Unclear
- Shenzhen Bird Flu Suspect Dies
- Hong Kong: Suspected Human H5N1 Infection In Neighboring Shenzhen
- WHO: Wild Poliovirus Confirmed In China
- Updating Hong Kong’s Scarlet Fever Outbreak
- You Say You Want An Evolution?
- Hong Kong: More H5N1 Infected Chickens Wash Up On Beach
- EID Journal: H5N1 Branching Out
- CID Journal: Convalescent Plasma Therapy For Severe H1N1
- China: Single Novel Swine Flu Infection Reported
- NEJM: Adult-Onset Immunodeficiency in Thailand and Taiwan
- FDA Statement On Azithromycin & Cardiovascular Risks
- NEJM: Cardiovascular Risks Of Taking Azithromycin
- NEJM: Oseltamivir Resistant H1N1 in Australia
- NEJM: Adjuvanted Flu Vaccine Found Effective In Children
- NEJM: Emergence Of A New Bacterial Cause Of Ehrlichiosis
- NEJM: The Age-Old Struggle against the Antivaccinationists
- Referral: NEJM On NDM-1 Threat
- Referral: NEJM Perspective On Influenza Vaccine Uptake
- Results Of CPR Without Rescue Breathing
- NEJM: Enrolling Pregnant Women In Clinical Trials
- CIDRAP On Two NEJM Pandemic H1N1 Studies
- NEJM: Household Transmission Of The H1N1 Virus
- NEJM: Pediatric H1N1 Hospitalizations & Deaths In Argentina
- NEJM: Pregnancy and Postpartum Risks Of Novel H1N1 Infection
- NEJM: Clinical Features Of H1N1 In China
- NEJM: Community Cluster Of Tamiflu Resistant H1N1
- NEJM: Boomers Have More Immunity
- NEJM: Review Of Hospitalized US Patients With Novel H1N1
- NEJM Perspective: Respiratory Protection For HCWs
- mBio: Taubenberger et al. On the 1918 Spanish Flu
- PNAS: Virulence & Transmissibility Of H1N2 Influenza Virus In Ferrets
- Study: Kids, Underlying Conditions, And The 2009 Pandemic Flu
- EID Journal: Flu In Healthy-Looking Pigs
- Lancet: Estimating Global 2009 Pandemic Mortality
- PNAS: H1N1 Vaccination Produced Antibodies Against Multiple Flu Strains
- Indian Government Responds To Concerns Over H1N1
- Indian Expert: `Nothing Scary About Outbreak’
- NEJM: Oseltamivir Resistant H1N1 in Australia
- CIDRAP News: Signs Of Tamiflu Resistant H1N1 Spreading
- Study: Kids, Pandemic H1N1 & MRSA Co-Infection
- An Influenza Double Whammy
- WHO: Call It A(H1N1)pdm09
- JAMA: H1N1, ECMO, and Survivability
- PLoS One: Viremia In The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Influenza
- When Pig Viruses Fly
- mBio: Lethal Synergism of H1N1 Pandemic Influenza & Bacterial Pneumonia
- Study: Reassorted H1N1-H5N1 Produced Virulent Strain
- ECDC: Risk Assessment On Australia’s Antiviral Resistant H1N1 Cluster
- Professor Peter Doherty On Bird Flu
- Australia Reports Cluster Of Antiviral Resistant H1N1
- PNAS: Reassortment Potential Of Avian H9N2
- Webinar: pH1N1 – H3N2 A Novel Influenza Reassortment
- Eurosurveillance: A `Mildly’ Resistant Strain of H1N1 Emerges
- PLoS One: H1N1 Seroprevalence Study
Widget by [ Iptek-4u ]