Saturday, August 22, 2009

Australian Experts Warn of Infectious Disease Risk in H1N1 Vaccinations

Nick Miller and Julia Medew
The Age

August 20, 2009

LEADING infectious disease experts have called on the Federal Government to abandon its mass swine-flu vaccination plan because of fears the vaccine is a contamination risk that could spread blood-borne diseases.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon yesterday announced that the Government would start deploying its first batch of swine-flu vaccine in coming weeks, with an aim to vaccinate as many people as possible to prevent further spread of the virus.

But in a letter sent to Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Jim Bishop, the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases expresses deep concern about CSL’s use of multi-dose vials for the vaccine and urged the Government to abandon its plan until it had single-dose vials.

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