There are persistent rumours about the the vaccine and medicines for Mexican (H1N1) flu. Especially on the Internet, its hard to distinguish between sense and nonsense. In this series of articles Radio Netherlands Worldwide attempts to clarify the situation. This time we look at the claim that thousands of children have been made sick by the vaccine.

A Dutch website for concerned mothers sees no advantage in a vaccination against Mexican flu  - certainly not for small children. In her Christmas column, site owner Anneke Bleeker writes this about the side effects of the H1N1 vaccine: “How fine it is to have an extremely pleasant house, and a child who is sick from the vaccine.”
 

Warning
According to Ms Bleeker it’s not her intention to cause anxiety amongst mothers, but to give them information which the National Institute for Public Health and the Evironment and the Ministry of Health don’t provide about what’s in the vaccine and the possible side effects. Ms Blekker says she has heard a lot about side effects, for example from the head teacher of a school:

"She noticed that children were at home sick, and mothers with babies said that their child was really sick for 36 hours and had a sore throat. ‘But that was normal when they’d had an injection’.". Ms Bleeker doesn’t believe that such side effects are normal.

She is greatly concerned at the casualness with which parents allow their children to be vaccinated. The concerned mother wants to prevent parents later saying that nobody warned them about the flu vaccine: “Our information should make them stop and think.”

Side effects
At the Dutch Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb some 3000 side effects are mentioned. These vary from a feeling of pain at the point of the injection to sore throats and allergic reactions. A few children have been taken into hospital with feverish convulsions. “Given the number of children who have been vaccinated – about 800,000 – this number is actually quite low” said Eugène Puienbroek from the Centre.

The Pharmacovigilance Centre naturally calls for everything to be reported, and parents with this new vaccine are more careful than usual. The reported side effects are no different from those already mentioned in the instructions.

Pay attention
He does advise parents to pay special attention to the second injection if their child was sick after the first one:

"I do think that if you have had a side effect the first time, then you must be prepared for the second time. And the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) also says that there’s the chance of a repeat if the child got a sore throat the first time. So that’s certainly something to bear in mind.”

Mr Van Puinbroek doesn’t see any reason for parents to back away from a second vaccination for their children on the basis of side effects. “That’s a decision that only the doctor can make in individual cases. Therefore there’s no general advice to give.”

Lead photo (c) ANP

External link:

• Dutch Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb