John Amis/AP
Nov. 20--The World Health Organization announced yesterday that among the 65 million adults and children who have received any form of swine flu vaccine since September, fewer than 30 have died. Less than 10 have developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
The WHO based its counts on reports of H1N1 influenza vaccine side effects from 16 countries, including the United States and China. Among the individuals diagnosed with GBS, all have recovered. Further, investigations have determined that none of the deaths occurring after people received a vaccination constituted a side effect of the vaccine.
In the words of WHO officials, then, "Although intense monitoring of vaccine safety continues, all data compiled to date indicate that pandemic vaccines match the excellent safety profile of seasonal influenza vaccines, which have been used for more than 60 years."
One of the cases of GBS reported to the WHO occurred in young teen living in Northern Virginia. As the unfortunate young man, Jordan McFarland, told MSNBC shortly before leaving the hospital to continue treatment at home, "The doctor said I’ll recover fully, but it’s going to take some time."
An analysis published in the journal Neurology in 2008 determined that GBS affects fewer than 0.0017 percent of Americans in any year. The percentage of U.S. residents who have both received swine flu vaccine and developed the syndrome stands at 0.000025.
No Virginians have died after getting vaccinated against the H1N1 influenza virus. At least 27 Commonwealth residents, including one in Norfolk, have suffered fatal complications from the disease.
On Oct. 31, 2009, an international team of researchers wrote in The Lancet that, for instance, among a million United Kingdom residents, "5.75 cases of sudden death would be expected to occur within 6 weeks of vaccination as coincident background cases." Sudden deaths are occurring far below this rate in people who have taken the H1N1 vaccination.
This slew of statistics indicates that the swine flu vaccine has a negligible risk for producing serious side effects and no discernible risk for causing death. Also, contracting swine flu is far more dangerous than getting vaccinated.
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