Life

DOH offers choice of H1N1 vaccine

• Publication Date：01/05/2010
• Source： China Times

Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang agreed Jan. 4 to this week begin allowing members of the public to choose the brand of influenza A (H1N1) vaccine they will be inoculated with.

In response to the increasing number of reports of adverse reactions to the H1N1 vaccine, the number of people being inoculated has stalled, with only 20,000 in the last four days, a new low record. Democratic Progressive Party legislators Chen Ying, Chen Chiech-ju, Huang Sue-ying and Liu Chien-kuo called on Yaung to permit people to select which brand they would be vaccinated with.

Yaung said to help boost the vaccination rate, the more than 3,000 vaccination stations around the island will be required to post whether the brand they have is the domestically produced Adimmune Corp.’s vaccine or the imported Novartis.

Shih Wen-yi, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control under the Department of Health, said 5.37 million H1N1 vaccine shots have been administered. Adimmune has supplied 6.95 million doses, of which 1.7 million remain. Of 2.02 million Novartis doses which have arrived, there are still 1.61 million, so available supplies of the two brands are more or less equal. The Novartis vaccine was first restricted to typhoon victims, medical personnel and infants between six months and one year of age, but it should be available for others this week, thus allowing a choice of brands.

Experts believe this step could relieve the slowdown in inoculations. Huang Li-min, director of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at National Taiwan University Hospital, said both the Adimmune and Novartis vaccines are developed from chicken embryos, and have more or less the same efficacy. An adjuvant is added to the Novartis vaccine. Offering the public a choice of vaccine brand may help raise the currently low rate of inoculation, he added.

Adimmune spokesman Kuo Sheng-kai said since the onset of vaccinations with the Adimmune product, the numbers of people hospitalized with swine flu and of classes cancelled have both dropped, indicating its effectiveness in controlling the epidemic. Once related authorities determine an adverse reaction is related to the vaccine, Adimmune will form a task force with experts to determine how to reduce risks and care for those affected.

The CDC said the apparently slightly higher incidence of adverse reactions in Taiwan than abroad is due to the ready availability of hospital care on the island. Many people suffering only minor dizziness or headache after getting the shot have been sent to the hospital, thus creating a false impression of more adverse reactions. (THN)