NZ - Ministry of Health says it has received reports that four children in New Zealand have been seriously affected after being given Fluvax.

[Sally Furniss]

Children suffer serious reactions to flu vaccine

<!-- UID: 4ab2b03d3403f960480b48530938bda87247048f AID: 2275523 C: 2010-04-23 17:07:29 U: 2010-04-23 21:25:28 P: 2010-04-23 21:25:28 --> Updated at 9:25pm on 23 April 2010
Some New Zealand children have suffered serious adverse reactions after being given a seasonal flu vaccine.

The Ministry of Health says it has received reports that four children in New Zealand have been seriously affected after being given Fluvax.


The government of Western Australia on Thursday night temporarily suspended its free influenza vaccination programme for children under the age of five after similar reactions.


Febrile convulsions - fits caused by a high fever - have been reported in about 24 children in the state after they were given the vaccine. One child fell critically ill.


The New Zealand ministry's chief adviser for child and youth health, Pat Tuohy, told Checkpoint on Friday that, though the convulsions are scary, they do not cause long-term harm.


Dr Tuohy says febrile convulsions are not associated with epilepsy and they seem to run in families.


The vaccine will still be given to adults, as the ministry says there is no suggestion it causes any problems.


Fluvax was used throughout New Zealand in March. However, the ministry says supplies are likely to be very low, as it began using a different supplier at the start of April in order to meet demand.


The ministry says until further information is available from Australia, doctors should not use Fluvax for children aged under 5. Vaxigrip should be used if it is available.


The ministry says it is important that doctors and parents report adverse reactions to vaccines to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring.


Listen to Checkpoint interview with Pat Tuohy

Copyright ? 2010 Radio New Zealand

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/04/23/1247fe953aa9

[Sally Furniss]

Re: NZ - Ministry of Health says it has received reports that four children in New Zealand have been seriously affected after being given Fluvax.

Flu vaccine linked to convulsions in children

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 8:53p.m.

Doctors in New Zealand have been advised against using the influenza vaccine Fluvax on children following reports in Australia of some cases of convulsions soon after jabs.

Australia's chief medical officer gave the same advice to doctors in that country following concerns stemming from a significant rise in the number of children developing a fever after receiving the vaccine.

Western Australian Health Minister Kim Hames yesterday suspended the state's free flu vaccination programme for children under five after some recipients went into a febrile convulsion - a fit caused by a high temperature.

New Zealand's Health Ministry chief advisor for child and youth health, Pat Tuohy, said there wasn't a lot of information at the moment, but "as a sensible precaution we recommend that providers avoid giving Fluvax to children under five until there have been further investigations".

"We still recommend that children at higher risk for flu complications get immunised using other brands of the vaccine," Dr Tuohy said. "Our experience during the 2009 pandemic showed that children are more likely to catch the pandemic strain, and that a number became very unwell."

He said health providers and parents needed to be aware that fever following immunisation was common.

"It's always important for people to keep an eye out for symptoms in the 24 hours after they, or their child, are vaccinated. In the event of fever, give an appropriate dose of paracetamol or ibuprofen and keep the child cool - perhaps by reducing the number of layers of clothing and sponging with a damp cloth."

In the case of high fevers or convulsions parents were urged to call Healthline or their GP.

Dr Tuohy said he was aware of three adverse reactions by New Zealand children who had taken Fluvax, and that another vaccine - Vaxigrip - should be used as an alternative. The Health Ministry was only today made aware of the Australian cases.

Over 260,000 Fluvax doses were administered in March and the ministry said supplies were now likely to be low. More supplies of Vaxigrip are expected from Europe next week.

The ministry is investigating the situation here and the Therapeutic Goods Administration is investigating the situation in Australia.


http://www.3news.co.nz/Flu-vaccine-linked-to-convulsions-in-children/tabid/423/articleID/152570/Default.aspx?ArticleID=152570&utm_source=feedburne r&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+co%2FZTVs+% 283News+-+Lifestyle+News%29

[Sally Furniss]

Re: NZ - Ministry of Health says it has received reports that four children in New Zealand have been seriously affected after being given Fluvax.

Updated at 12:05pm on 28 April 2010 Health authorities in New Zealand are to question their Australian counterparts in a continuing bid to discover if a brand of the seasonal flu vaccine caused serious reactions in young children.
Doctors in both countries have stopped giving the Fluvax brand of vaccine to children under the age of five, amid reports of serious adverse reactions to children, including one death.
Serious reactions, including febrile convulsions, have been reported by four children in New Zealand, and authorities say more reports are coming in as media publicity prompts parents to report reactions which occurred weeks ago.
Authorities are still studying whether Fluvax, made by CSL in Australia, played a role, and were to explore this in a trans-Tasman teleconference on Wednesday.
An extra 47,000 doses of an alternative vaccine, Vaxigrip, arrived in the country yesterday from France. A similar amount was due on Thursday.

Copyright &#169; 2010 Radio New Zealand

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/04/28/1247fee0c167

[Sally Furniss]

Re: NZ - Ministry of Health says it has received reports that four children in New Zealand have been seriously affected after being given Fluvax.

Thread about suspension of the Trivalent shot in Australia. http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...449#post353449

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: NZ - Ministry of Health says it has received reports that four children in New Zealand have been seriously affected after being given Fluvax.

Reports rise of child flu-jab convulsions
By KATE NEWTON - The Dominion Post Last updated 05:00 29/04/2010SharePrint Text Size Relevant offers

More Kiwi parents have reported convulsions in their children after having a seasonal flu jab, after a spate of adverse reactions in Australia.

As of last Friday, five New Zealand pre-schoolers had suffered febrile convulsions ? a type of seizure brought on by high fever ? after being given Fluvax.

That was one more than the previous report.

More than 20 young children in Western Australia have also suffered serious reactions, including one who died, and New Zealand and Australian doctors have stopped giving the vaccine to under-fives.

Michael Tatley, director of the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring, said he had received a couple of retrospective reports since Friday of children having febrile convulsions.

Those reactions had occurred in March, when more than 260,000 Fluvax doses were administered.

The Health Ministry has said Fluvax supplies are now likely to be low and doctors are using another vaccine, Vaxigrip, instead. The ministry was not sure how many of those doses had been given to pre-schoolers.

Febrile convulsions are common in early childhood, with one in 25 children suffering at least one. They rarely cause lasting problems but parents should contact emergency services if they last longer than five minutes.

Ministry child and youth health chief adviser Pat Tuohy said the ministry was in regular contact with its Australian counterpart and a teleconference was planned for yesterday afternoon to try to get more information.

On present advice, there was no reason for children, especially those at high risk of flu, to stop receiving other types of flu vaccines, Dr Tuohy said.

Children at a high risk were considered to be those who had an underlying chronic condition, such as asthma or diabetes, or those at risk for other reasons, including those from low socio-economic families.

While there had been more reports than usual of severe reactions, there were also more children getting the vaccine, and people were more likely to report reactions due to the media attention.

- with NZPA

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/3635839/Reports-rise-of-child-flu-jab-convulsions