CDC and FDA Investigate Post-Flu Vaccine Seizures in Children

Feds Probe Post-Flu Shot Seizures Among Kids
Investigation into Apparent Rise in Fever-Related Seizures in Young Children Comes after 10 Hospitalizations

CBS News

(AP) ATLANTA - Government officials are investigating an apparent increase in fever-related seizures in young children after they got a flu shot.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said there have been 36 confirmed reports of seizures this flu season in children ages 6 months through 2 years. The seizures occurred within one day after they were vaccinated with Fluzone, the only flu shot recommended in the United States for infants and very young children. Ten of the children were hospitalized, but all recovered.

The FDA said it is investigating to see if there is any connection between the vaccine and the seizures, or if something else caused the convulsions. The agency said recommendations for using the vaccine have not changed, nor has there been any change in flu vaccine guidance...

[Full Article]

RELATED ARTICLES...

Fever-Related Seizures Prompt Look At Flu Vaccine For Kids [NPR]


CDC &FDA Investigating Reports of Seizures in Young Children after Flu Vaccine [Injuryboard]

Feds checking post-vaccine seizures in young kids [Associated Press]

UPDATE 3-US probing seizures reported after Sanofi flu shot [Reuters]

Adverse effects reported from pediatric flu vaccine [WLBT.com]

Experts admit swine flu jab 'may cause' deadly nerve disease

Health chiefs have for the first time acknowledged that the swine flu jab may be linked to an increased risk of developing a deadly nerve condition.

Experts are examining a pos­sible association between the controversial jab and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, according to a report from official watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Previously, the Government has always stressed there is no evidence to link the paralysing condition to the H1N1 vaccine...

[Full Article]

Be wary of rolling up sleeves for one-shot vaccine

Re: "One-shot vaccine covers H1N1, other influenza viruses," The Journal, Oct. 13.

I read the Journal story about the new flu cocktail that includes the seasonal and the H1N1 vaccines.

Although I'm opposed to most vaccines, I'm especially opposed to last year's H1N1 vaccination -- yes, last year's.

This is the one that had inconclusive clinical trials (as reported) but was foisted on the public for timing reasons -- apparently Health Canada was ill-prepared for the H1N1 flu and brought the vaccination to the public without completing its trials...

[Full Article]

Swine Flu Shot Spurned by Most Australians as Virus Not Seen as Big Risk

Swine flu shots in Australia, the first country to offer the vaccine nationally, were spurned by a majority of people mostly because they didn’t consider the pandemic virus a serious health risk, a government report found.

A survey by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found 18.1 percent of the population, or about 3.9 million people, were vaccinated against the new H1N1 flu strain by the end of February, five months after immunizations began. More than half of all adult Australians said they didn’t intend to get the shot, according to the institute in Canberra.

“The major barriers to vaccination uptake included the perceived problems with the vaccine (such as side effects and the vaccine was unsafe) and the perception that swine flu is not a serious health risk,” the institute said in a statement today...

[Full Article]

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny: Flu Vaccines - What's Coming Through That Needle

TheAlexJonesChannel | September 17, 2010

Alex talks with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, the Director and Founder of OsteoMed II, a clinic established in Strongsville, Ohio in 1996 to provide alternative, traditional and preventive medicine. She is also the president of New Medical Awareness Seminars, LLC. Dr. Tenpenny is an internationally renowned expert in alternative medicine. She has lectured abroad on health issues at numerous conferences, conventions, and universities. Tenpenny's DVD, Flu and Flu Vaccines: What's Coming Through That Needle, explores the problems associated with annual flu shots.
http://www.drtenpenny.com/
http://www.infowars.com/
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/

WHO And The Pandemic Flu "Conspiracies"

Deborah Cohen, features editor, BMJ, Philip Carter, journalist, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, London

Key scientists advising the World Health Organization on planning for an influenza pandemic had done paid work for pharmaceutical firms that stood to gain from the guidance they were preparing. These conflicts of interest have never been publicly disclosed by WHO, and WHO has dismissed inquiries into its handling of the A/H1N1 pandemic as "conspiracy theories." Deborah Cohen and Philip Carter investigate

Next week marks the first anniversary of the official declaration of the influenza A/H1N1 pandemic. On 11 June 2009 Dr Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization, announced to the world’s media: "I have conferred with leading influenza experts, virologists, and public health officials. In line with procedures set out in the International Health Regulations, I have sought guidance and advice from an Emergency Committee established for this purpose. On the basis of available evidence, and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met...The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic."

It was the culmination of 10 years of pandemic preparedness planning for WHO—years of committee meetings with experts flown in from around the world and reams of draft documents offering guidance to governments. But one year on, governments that took advice from WHO are unwinding their vaccine contracts, and billions of dollars’ worth of stockpiled oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza)—bought from health budgets already under tight constraints—lie unused in warehouses around the world.

A joint investigation by the BMJ and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that raises troubling questions about how WHO managed conflicts of interest among the scientists who advised its pandemic planning, and about the transparency of the science underlying its advice to governments. Was it appropriate for WHO to take advice from experts who had declarable financial and research ties with pharmaceutical companies producing antivirals and influenza vaccines? Why was key WHO guidance authored by an influenza expert who had received payment for other work from Roche, manufacturers of oseltamivir, and GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturers of zanamivir? And why does the composition of the emergency committee from which Chan sought guidance remain a secret known only to those within WHO? We are left wondering whether major public health organisations are able to effectively manage the conflicts of interest that are inherent in medical science...

[Full Article]

CSL Suspends Suspends Child's Flu Vaccine

MELBOURNE—CSL Ltd. halted Australian distribution of its pediatric influenza vaccine Friday and launched an investigation after Australian authorities linked influenza injections to severe adverse reactions in young children.

Meanwhile, shares in the big maker of vaccines and plasma products fell 7.3% Friday, in what traders attributed to unrelated worries about the market after U.S. rival Baxter International Inc. on Thursday slashed its full-year outlook. CSL said it didn't have any reason to alter its previous guidance.

CSL, one of the world's largest influenza vaccine manufacturers, halted vaccine distribution Friday following reports that children have suffered seizures and high fevers after their injections. A company spokeswoman said the injection at the center of the concern was a seasonal vaccine that immunized children against three influenza strains, including H1N1, also known as swine flu.

Australian Chief Medical Officer Jim Bishop suspended influenza vaccinations for all children under five years old. He said health authorities are seeking more information from CSL, the manufacturer, and to confirm which batches of vaccine were used in Western Australia.

Dr. Bishop said the action was a precaution "due to a spike in the number of young children in Western Australia experiencing fever and convulsions following seasonal flu vaccinations."...

Australia Probes Seasonal Flu Vaccine Reactions In Children

Apr 23, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – Australia's chief medical officer asked providers to stop giving children under age 5 the seasonal flu vaccine made by CSL Ltd after receiving reports of fever and convulsions in kids in Western Australia who had recently been immunized.

The country's drug regulatory agency, the Therapeutic Good Administration (TGA), is investigating the reports and will test samples of the vaccine that CSL has agreed to provide, Bloomberg News reported today.

CSL, an Australia-based flu vaccine producer, said in a statement today it was urgently investigating the reports along with federal and state health officials and that it has stopped distributing its pediatric vaccine to reduce the risk of inadvertent administration to children younger than 5. CSL is Australia's only flu vaccine producer, but it is one of several companies that supply seasonal flu vaccine for the Australian market.

CSL's trivalent seasonal flu vaccine covers three flu strains, including pandemic H1N1.

Over the past month, 22 children from the state were hospitalized after experiencing febrile convulsions within 12 hours of receiving the vaccine, The West Australian reported today. Health officials added that one child became seriously ill, and it was still unclear if the vaccine was the cause of the children's symptoms...