tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
An example of bad information:
The Government was accused last night of "sneaking" the controversial swine flu jab into hundreds of thousands of winter flu vaccines.
Pensioners, pregnant women and those with long-standing conditions like asthma are being advised this week to arrange their annual winter flu jab at their doctors.
But this time, a controversial jab for swine flu, which millions refused to take up during the pandemic of last winter, has been mixed with the regular vaccine – and health chiefs have told patients they have no choice but to get both.
The Government was left with more than 30 million swine flu vaccines after the global pandemic of 2009 fizzled out in 2010.
That cost the previous Labour government £128 million, despite arranging a deal with suppliers. But the leftover swine flu jabs do not make up the new batch of millions of winter flu vaccines, which are currently being shipped to doctors' surgeries across the West.
Jeanne Aldous, from South Gloucestershire, was concerned to receive a letter inviting her for her annual winter flu vaccine at her GP surgery in Hanham.
She said: "The information saying that this year the swine flu vaccine is included in the cocktail they will give you is on the back of the letter, along with lots of other information about the jab.
"Most people will get the letter and just think 'right, that's the usual winter flu jab', without looking on the back and seeing that they'd be getting the swine flu vaccine mixed in there too," she said.
"It just seems a sneaky way to make sure that everybody gets the swine flu jab, and I wonder why this hasn't been announced," she added.
"So many people were very wary of it last year and they had lots left over. I am concerned about the cocktail of different kinds of flu that are now being given out, particularly if it contains the swine flu jab.
"It's a bit Big Brother-ish, especially because we have no choice – it's either this jab or nothing."
Some types of swine flu vaccinations are already causing controversy after being linked to a rise in the numbers suffering from the sleep condition narcolepsy, where people cannot stop themselves falling asleep during the day.
In Finland, one brand of the swine flu vaccine has been banned, and officials in Sweden have prompted a Europe-wide investigation into the particular brand of vaccination, called Pandemrix, produced by GlaxoSmithKline.
But that has not stopped the World Health Organisation (WHO) insisting that governments include the swine flu virus in the flu vaccines given to millions of people every autumn to help avoid influenza.
The organisation instructed the Department of Health last month, and the new batches of vaccines are already available for use. "The WHO declared that the H1N1 influenza pandemic was officially over," explained an NHS spokesman. "We've now entered the post-pandemic period. However, it's important not to ignore H1N1 flu. The H1N1 flu virus will be one of the main viruses circulating this winter. Therefore, the WHO has announced that the H1N1 flu virus will be included in the 2010-11 seasonal flu vaccine.
"It's still recommended that people in high-risk groups continue to be vaccinated with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, this includes all pregnant women," he added.
The Department of Health had not given the inclusion of the H1N1 vaccine in the seasonal winter jab any publicity in the past six weeks since that order from the WHO, apart from a single line on its website.
But a spokesman for the Department of Health said that each year the seasonal jab contained a mix of the latest and most common versions of the influenza virus, and that it was 'obvious' that the H1N1 strain would be included this year.
She said the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority, which monitors vaccines, had given the swine flu jab the all-clear, after the fears in Scandinavia over the narcolepsy outbreak.
"By March this year, that particular H1N1 vaccine had been given out 5.5 million times and there have been no reported cases of narcolepsy in Britain," she said.
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/new...y-vaccine/article-2645448-detail/article.html
The Government was accused last night of "sneaking" the controversial swine flu jab into hundreds of thousands of winter flu vaccines.
Pensioners, pregnant women and those with long-standing conditions like asthma are being advised this week to arrange their annual winter flu jab at their doctors.
But this time, a controversial jab for swine flu, which millions refused to take up during the pandemic of last winter, has been mixed with the regular vaccine – and health chiefs have told patients they have no choice but to get both.
The Government was left with more than 30 million swine flu vaccines after the global pandemic of 2009 fizzled out in 2010.
That cost the previous Labour government £128 million, despite arranging a deal with suppliers. But the leftover swine flu jabs do not make up the new batch of millions of winter flu vaccines, which are currently being shipped to doctors' surgeries across the West.
Jeanne Aldous, from South Gloucestershire, was concerned to receive a letter inviting her for her annual winter flu vaccine at her GP surgery in Hanham.
She said: "The information saying that this year the swine flu vaccine is included in the cocktail they will give you is on the back of the letter, along with lots of other information about the jab.
"Most people will get the letter and just think 'right, that's the usual winter flu jab', without looking on the back and seeing that they'd be getting the swine flu vaccine mixed in there too," she said.
"It just seems a sneaky way to make sure that everybody gets the swine flu jab, and I wonder why this hasn't been announced," she added.
"So many people were very wary of it last year and they had lots left over. I am concerned about the cocktail of different kinds of flu that are now being given out, particularly if it contains the swine flu jab.
"It's a bit Big Brother-ish, especially because we have no choice – it's either this jab or nothing."
Some types of swine flu vaccinations are already causing controversy after being linked to a rise in the numbers suffering from the sleep condition narcolepsy, where people cannot stop themselves falling asleep during the day.
In Finland, one brand of the swine flu vaccine has been banned, and officials in Sweden have prompted a Europe-wide investigation into the particular brand of vaccination, called Pandemrix, produced by GlaxoSmithKline.
But that has not stopped the World Health Organisation (WHO) insisting that governments include the swine flu virus in the flu vaccines given to millions of people every autumn to help avoid influenza.
The organisation instructed the Department of Health last month, and the new batches of vaccines are already available for use. "The WHO declared that the H1N1 influenza pandemic was officially over," explained an NHS spokesman. "We've now entered the post-pandemic period. However, it's important not to ignore H1N1 flu. The H1N1 flu virus will be one of the main viruses circulating this winter. Therefore, the WHO has announced that the H1N1 flu virus will be included in the 2010-11 seasonal flu vaccine.
"It's still recommended that people in high-risk groups continue to be vaccinated with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, this includes all pregnant women," he added.
The Department of Health had not given the inclusion of the H1N1 vaccine in the seasonal winter jab any publicity in the past six weeks since that order from the WHO, apart from a single line on its website.
But a spokesman for the Department of Health said that each year the seasonal jab contained a mix of the latest and most common versions of the influenza virus, and that it was 'obvious' that the H1N1 strain would be included this year.
She said the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority, which monitors vaccines, had given the swine flu jab the all-clear, after the fears in Scandinavia over the narcolepsy outbreak.
"By March this year, that particular H1N1 vaccine had been given out 5.5 million times and there have been no reported cases of narcolepsy in Britain," she said.
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/new...y-vaccine/article-2645448-detail/article.html