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Health officials in Canada have recalled a batch of H1N1 vaccines due to an unusual number of severe reactions. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has advised doctors to cease administering the batch of vaccine because of patients experiencing anaphylactic symptoms.
The batch in question contained approximately 170,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine. GlaxoSmithKline is currently investigating the situation which reportedly includes adverse reactions in about 1 in 20,000 doses. If that number is accurate, it would be five times higher than the normal adverse reaction rate for the vaccine.
So far, it appears that none of the reactions will have long term effects on the patients in question. A total of 7.5 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been distributed throughout Canada. GlaxoSmithKline is the second largest profiting pharmaceutical company in the world and is based in the U.K.
Comments
Which batch is in question, i.e those currently being administered, i.e. yesterday, November 23, 2009???, or last month or ?
The first paragraph of your article is incorrect and very misleading. Vaccination clinics in Canada are continuing to administer thousands of doses daily from other batches of the vaccine.
Doses from that particular batch has been withdrawn.
The vaccine in question is one batch of around 170,000 doses as was stated. The announcement was made this morning. GlaxoSmithKline has declined to mention how many doses from the batch was used, but doctors have ceased using that particular batch. They have yet to mention the exact time frame of usage for that particular batch. If you have had a vaccine recently and are experiencing adverse reactions, see a doctor immediately.
The opening paragraph of this piece has been corrected to make the recall more clear. Thank you for your continued readership.
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