SEASONAL flu shots can trigger febrile fits in young children at nine times the expected rate and should not be given to healthy under-fives this winter, the Chief Medical Officer advised yesterday in a warning that puts the world on alert.
Australia’s baffling spike in severe side-effects may jeopardise the roll-out of the 2010 flu vaccine in the northern hemisphere, where the US, the European Union and Canada are awaiting the results of an investigation to be led by immunologist Peter Doherty.
The World Health Organisation is liaising with Australian authorities, who still have no idea why this year’s vaccine caused febrile convulsions in 101 children within 24 hours of their flu jab.
Pharmaceutical giant CSL yesterday announced a voluntary recall of the pediatric version of its Fluvax seasonal flu vaccine from medical clinics and distributors, as a “precautionary measure”.
Chief Medical Officer Jim Bishop said the 2010 seasonal flu shot had triggered febrile convulsions at a rate of nine in every 1000 children younger than five — nine times the expected rate.
The federal government has appointed Professor Doherty — who shared the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1996 — to lead a committee of experts who will collaborate with the US Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta.
“Everyone is interested in what we’re discovering, and we will be making information available to our colleagues at the WHO, the US and Canada,” Professor Bishop told The Australian yesterday.
“The EU Centre for Disease Control has been in contact and we’ve had teleconferences with them. Our information is important to them, and they are going to take our findings into account.”
Professor Bishop advised parents against vaccinating healthy children younger than five with the seasonal flu jab, which contains a world-first cocktail of seasonal and swine flu viruses.
But they could still be given the swine flu-specific Panvax, which is not affected by the seasonal flu-jab scare.
Parents of children at risk of complications from seasonal flu should consult a doctor about the risks and benefits of vaccination using the Influvac and Vaxigrip brands. The main seasonal flu vaccine, Fluvax, was suspended five weeks ago after state health authorities reported febrile convulsions, fever or vomiting in hundreds of babies and toddlers across the country.
Queensland’s coroner is still investigating the death of a two-year-old girl who died within hours of her vaccination.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration yesterday said “no biological, clinical or epidemiological factors” could explain the spate of convulsions, while vaccine testing showed no abnormalities.
It has ordered CSL to insert a new warning in Fluvax packaging. It says the seasonal flu jab is “safe and effective” for children aged five and over and high-risk patients including the chronically ill, pregnant women, indigenous people and the over-65s.
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