German Army first in line to get cutting-edge swine flu shot

Army first in line to get cutting-edge swine flu shot
Quote from No Compulsory Vaccination.
http://nocompulsoryvaccination.blogspot.com/2009/10/army-first-in-line-to-get-cutting-edge.html
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Army first in line to get cutting-edge swine flu shot
The German Military is getting a thiomersal-free - squalene-free flu shot. Good for them! But while vaccine apologists like Paul Offit in today's NY Times continue to insist that these products are perfectly safe (roll up your sleeve, Paul!), one has to wonder why the German government would say they are too dangerous for troops but safe enough for pregnant women, children, the elderly and the sick? This page calls for your comments (see link below) so please do send them in.

Full article;

The German army has ordered a stock of special swine flu vaccine that does not contain controversial additives that will be given to the general public, the Defence Ministry confirmed on Monday.

The announcement came in response to a report in daily Westfalen-Blatt, which said that Bundeswehr soldiers and their families on foreign deployments or preparing for missions overseas would receive the inoculations.

The A/H1N1 flu shots given to soldiers will contain neither a controversial strengthening additive, nor the preservative agent mercury, both of which are contained in the shots for the general public.

Additive-free Celvapan, manufactured by the US pharmaceutical company Baxter, was approved on October 6 for use in the European Union.

Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said the Bundeswehr needs to be able to quickly and impartially inoculate soldiers and their dependants on foreign missions to ensure they were protected.

Raabe said that not all of the Bundeswehr‘s 250,000 soldiers could be vaccinated at once, but added it is important that the 7,200 troops on foreign missions receive the first shots, he said.

Some doctors have warned of unforeseeable side effects to the other EU-approved vaccines Pandemrix, made by British firm GlaxoSmithKline, and Focetria, manufactured by Swiss company Novartis.

However, there are no studies comparing the side effects, according to the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which oversees drug registration and safety in Germany.

The president of Germany's Association of Children’s and Young People’s Physicians (BVKJ), Wolfram Hartmann, told the Westfalen-Blatt that the vaccines committee of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin had reacted with surprise to the Bundeswehr’s “solo approach.”

He called for children aged six months to six years to also be given the additive-free shots.
News source;
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091012-22523.html

See also;
European Medicines AgencyASSESSMENT REPORT FOR Pandemrix Common Name: pandemic influenza vaccine (H5N1) (split virion, inactivated, adjuvanted) A/VietNam/1194/2004 NIBRG-14 Procedure No. EMEA/H/C/000832/II/0005.
London, 29 May 2009
INTRODUCTION Pandemrix was granted Marketing Authorisations in the EU in May 2008, with use being restricted to subjects aged 18-60 years in section 4.2 of the summary of product characteristics (SPC) due to lack of data outside of this age range. The currently approved vaccine contains split influenza virus with a haemagglutinin content equivalent to 3.75 micrograms derived from the A/VietNam/1194/2004 (H5N1) like strain (NIBRG-14). This strain was produced by reverse genetics at NIBSC. The vaccine also contains the marketing authorisation holder’s (MAH) proprietary adjuvant AS03, which is composed of squalene, DL-α-tocopherol and polysorbate 80.

Page 16 of report;
There were 5 SAEs reported by 4 subjects up to the initial D51 data lock point. These were clearly intercurrent illnesses unrelated to vaccination, none was fatal and all were resolved. SAEs were reported between Day 52 and Day 180 with a data lock point of 15 December, 2008. During this period 13 subjects reported a total of 13 SAEs up to the data lock point. Of these SAEs; two were unresolved, six were resolved and five were fatal. The five fatalities concerned a cerebrovascular accident (2), congestive cardiac failure (2) and ventricular fibrillation. Overall (from D0 onwards) 18 SAEs were reported by 16 subjects in this study.
Source;
http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/PDFs/EPAR/pandemrix/Pandemrix-H-832-II-05-AR.pdf
Posted by living in dread at 22:36
Labels: EU-approved vaccines, murcury, Pandemrix, side effects, swine flu, vaccines, WHO, world health organisation