Saskatoon Health Region has received nearly 50 reports so far

The Saskatoon Health Region has received nearly 50 reports so far of mild and moderate adverse reactions to the H1N1 vaccine.

Dr. Ross Findlater, deputy medical health officer, says the region has received more than 58,000 doses of the vaccine since late October, about 30,000 of which have been shot into arms as of earlier this week. The region is working on a more precise tally of how many shots nurses have administered so far.

The majority of the reactions have been exactly the kinds of problems health professionals expected to see, Findlater says.

"These are mostly pretty mild side-effects," he said.

The side-effects have included symptoms such as swollen arms, muscle pain, fever, headache, weakness and rashes.

Because the H1N1 vaccine is a new immunization, Findlater surmises people are more vigilant about reporting reactions to the shot than for a better-established vaccination.

Compared to the seasonal flu shot, mild reactions appear to be more common with this immunization, Findlater said.

Developing a sore arm seems about twice as common, he says. He's also seeing more headache and muscle pain, but doesn't have any data on how those reactions compare to the seasonal flu shot.