Monday, August 24, 2009

Doctors may refuse swine flu vaccine/Guardian

According to the Guardian,

"Several studies suggest up to 60% of GPs would oppose being immunised because they are concerned the safety trials will be rushed..

The biggest reason given by those who said they would not have it was concern that the safety trials would not be adequate: 71.3% said they were "concerned that the vaccine has not yet been through sufficient trials to guarantee safety". Half – 50.4% – said they "believe that swine flu is too mild to justify taking the vaccine"...

The Department of Health played down the results, saying that the small number of responders could not accurately be said to reflect the opinions of all GPs..."

A US News article of Aug 21 claimed,
"Early results for this first trial among adults have found the vaccine to be safe with no serious side effects,"
said Tony Fauci.

Yet the reportage is misleading. Since none of the US trials have so far used novel adjuvants, they fail to provide any information about the safety of MF59 or ASO3-adjuvanted vaccines. For example:

Another trial, also involving adults, is looking to determine the best timing for giving the vaccine for seasonal flu as well as the new H1N1 swine virus vaccine. A third trial that began a few days ago is testing the vaccine in children 6 months to 17 years old, Fauci said. Dosing information from this trial is expected in September and October, he said.

Trials are also planned involving pregnant women; they are scheduled to start in mid-September.

Finally, there will be a trial testing so-called adjuvants, which are additions to the vaccine to make it more effective. This trial is set to launch in mid- to late September, Fauci said.


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