1,300 adverse suspected reactions and one death in UK

One person in the UK has died after being given the swine flu vaccine, though details have not been released.

Reports from the medicines regulator said they had serious underlying medical conditions and is one fatality among over 1,300 suspected adverse reactions, primarily to Pandemrix which is being used more widely than Celvapan.

Adverse reactions, suspected to be as a result of the vaccine, have affected nine pregnant women and all of them were not serious, the regulator said in a report. The majority of the suspected adverse reactions have been pain and swelling at the injection site, nausea and vomiting, muscle aches and headaches, which are all to be expected.

The document said: “Such events may occur shortly after vaccination and be reported as suspected adverse events. It is important to bear in mind that this temporal association does not in itself mean that the vaccine was responsible for the event and that this may be coincidental.”

There are currently slightly over nine million people in priority groups being vaccinated who have long-term serious illnesses and pregnant women.

Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, announced this week that once the priority groups were vaccinated, the programme would extended to around three million healthy children aged between six months and five years.

The report concluded that no serious safety issues have been identified from the UK to date and the benefit-risk balance for both vaccines, (Pandemrix and Celvapan) remains positive.