During the first round of the Dutch vaccination programme against the A(H1N1) flu virus, around four million people received a jab, almost a quarter of the total population.

Nearly 76 percent of the 5.5 million high-risk patients were vaccinated. According to the National Flu Vaccination Programme Foundation (SNPG), this is comparable to the take-up for the annual seasonal flu jab, and represents the highest flu vaccination turnout in Europe.

These figures do not include the children aged six months to four years and family members of babies under six months who were eligible for vaccination last week. Around a million people in this group were called up, but no figures on the take-up are yet available.

After the first round of vaccinations, the Netherlands Side-effects Centre received 4000 reports of possible vaccine side-effects. However the majority of these were known mild reactions, such as soreness or reddening around the place where the jab was administered, or fever.

The Netherlands Side-effects Centre, Lareb, received two reports of children who died shortly after receiving the vaccination. One three-year-old child had a serious heart condition, and the foundation says it sees no connection between the child’s death and the flu jab.

The other child developed a fever after receiving the vaccination and died a day later. Lareb says that although the child had no symptoms to indicate a relation to the flu vaccination apart from the fever, no other clear cause of death has been identified. Both the deaths will be investigated.
 

Photo: flickr.com/soloflight