Vaccines

[source: British Medical Journal, 21/Oct/09]
Only 12% of Germans say they will have H1N1 vaccine after row blows up over safety of adjuvants. Concerns are growing in Germany about the safety of the swine flu vaccine that will be available to the general population after news was leaked last weekend that top politicians and some government employees will be given an alternative vaccine.
 

Story by Kitty Holland, Irish Times, 4th Sept 2009

THE NEW swine flu vaccine, when it becomes available here in coming weeks, will only be available with a mercury-based preservative included. The same vaccine will be available in the US both with and without the substance - the mercury-free form for pregnant women and young children.

The HSE has confirmed it plans only to acquire the vaccine in doses containing the mercury-based preservative Thimerosal. "The vaccine will be administered to everybody including pregnant women on the basis of informed consent," a HSE spokesman said.

Mayo worst for uptake of MMR vaccine
Western People, July 23 2009

MAYO has one of the worst uptakes in the country for the MMR vaccine, despite a recent spate of mumps outbreaks in the county.

Parents have been urged to ensure their children are protected with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine following a spike in diagnoses.

The surge in mumps which hit universities, schools and sports clubs across the country this year was the highest since recording began with the introduction of the MMR vaccine in 1988.

Sunday Business Post
28 June 2009

When the letters, e-mails and phone calls began to pour in, Dr Paul A Offit presumed the worst. In the past, the chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia had received a death threat due to his defence of the safety of childhood vaccines.

He had been criticised for his defence of the vaccine industry by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nephew of John F Kennedy and a lawyer specialising in environmental litigation.