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http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/11/26/11929836-sun.html
Flu cases 'slowing'
Top doc insists H1N1 vaccine is halting infections
By CHRISTINA SPENCER, NATIONAL BUREAU
Last Updated: 26th November 2009, 3:54am
OTTAWA -- The rate of H1N1 infections in some parts of Canada has started to level off, the country's chief public health officer says, but it's too soon to conclude the virus has reached its peak.
"We're already seeing this slowing and fewer people being infected than might otherwise have been" without an H1N1 vaccine, Dr. David Butler-Jones said. The Public Health Agency of Canada says about one-quarter of Canadians have now been immunized and another 10% will likely get the vaccine within the next week.
Butler-Jones was at pains to stress the safety of the vaccine, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, after a batch was pulled off the market last week following reports of higher than expected adverse reactions.
The batch was halted after about 172,000 doses had been administered in several provinces. Public officials said six serious cases were associated with that batch of vaccine, though those six could simply have been a statistical anomaly. Some other batches have had no serious reactions associated with them at all.
Normally, the ratio of serious allergic reactions to a vaccine is about one for every 100,000 doses.
Butler-Jones said among the total vaccine administered so far, the serious-reaction rate has been even lower than anticipated: 0.32 per 100,000. The vaccine itself continues to be "cheap, safe and effective," he said.
"The overall safety of the vaccine is really, really clear."
There have been 24 confirmed cases of a type of severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis in Canadians who have received an H1N1 flu shot, including one person who died, Public Health said.
CHRISTINA.SPENCER@SUNMEDIA.CA
Flu cases 'slowing'
Top doc insists H1N1 vaccine is halting infections
By CHRISTINA SPENCER, NATIONAL BUREAU
Last Updated: 26th November 2009, 3:54am
OTTAWA -- The rate of H1N1 infections in some parts of Canada has started to level off, the country's chief public health officer says, but it's too soon to conclude the virus has reached its peak.
"We're already seeing this slowing and fewer people being infected than might otherwise have been" without an H1N1 vaccine, Dr. David Butler-Jones said. The Public Health Agency of Canada says about one-quarter of Canadians have now been immunized and another 10% will likely get the vaccine within the next week.
Butler-Jones was at pains to stress the safety of the vaccine, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, after a batch was pulled off the market last week following reports of higher than expected adverse reactions.
The batch was halted after about 172,000 doses had been administered in several provinces. Public officials said six serious cases were associated with that batch of vaccine, though those six could simply have been a statistical anomaly. Some other batches have had no serious reactions associated with them at all.
Normally, the ratio of serious allergic reactions to a vaccine is about one for every 100,000 doses.
Butler-Jones said among the total vaccine administered so far, the serious-reaction rate has been even lower than anticipated: 0.32 per 100,000. The vaccine itself continues to be "cheap, safe and effective," he said.
"The overall safety of the vaccine is really, really clear."
There have been 24 confirmed cases of a type of severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis in Canadians who have received an H1N1 flu shot, including one person who died, Public Health said.
CHRISTINA.SPENCER@SUNMEDIA.CA