Severe H1N1 reactions in 48 Canadians
December 4, 2009
Joanna Smith
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA – The Public Health Agency of Canada says 48 people nationwide have experienced severe allergic reactions to the swine flu vaccine since the immunization campaign began two months ago.
The agency updated its vaccine surveillance report Friday to show 2,574 adverse reactions to the H1N1 influenza vaccine had been reported by provinces and territories as of Nov. 20.
About 12.3 million doses of the vaccine had been shipped across the country by that point.
The report says 135 of those side effects were considered serious.
Forty-eight of those serious cases involved anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that some people can experience when they are allergic to bee stings or peanuts and can be treated with an immediate shot of adrenaline.
One person has died following an anaphylactic reaction, which Quebec health authorities have said was an octogenarian in that province.
The rate of anaphylaxis so far has been about 0.39 reactions out of 100,000 doses distributed.
Vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline Inc. is producing the Canadian order of 50.4 million doses at its plant in Ste-Foy, Que.
One lot of its vaccine had to be put on hold when it was discovered the rate of serious adverse events was higher in that batch than in others.
An investigation into what went wrong with that batch of roughly 172,000 doses is still ongoing.
The reporting rate of adverse events – whether mild or serious – is 21 per 100,000 doses distributed.
thestar.com
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