Tweet
The Lancet Infect Dis. Pandemic influenza A H1N1 vaccines and narcolepsy: vaccine safety surveillance in action
[Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases, full page: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Early Online Publication, 19 December 2013
doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70238-X
Copyright ? 2013 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
Pandemic influenza A H1N1 vaccines and narcolepsy: vaccine safety surveillance in action
Original Text
Dr Charlotte I S Barker BMBCh a b, Matthew D Snape MD a c
Summary
The 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic placed unprecedented demand on public health authorities and the vaccine industry. Efforts were coordinated internationally to maximise the speed of vaccine development, distribution, and delivery, and the European Union's novel fast-track authorisation procedures mandated increased postmarketing surveillance to monitor vaccine safety. Clinicians in Finland and Sweden later identified an apparent increase in the incidence of narcolepsy associated with a specific adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine. After extensive review, the European Medicines Agency confirmed the existence of this association, which has since been detected in England, Ireland, France, and Norway. Assessments of the causal mechanisms continue. In this Review, we discuss how the narcolepsy association was detected, and we present the evidence according to the causality assessment criteria for adverse events following immunisation. The lessons learnt emphasise the central role of alert clinicians in reporting of suspected adverse reactions, and the importance of internationally robust postmarketing surveillance strategies as crucial components in future mass immunisation programmes.
________
a Oxford Vaccine Group, Department of Paediatrics, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; b Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; c NIHR Oxford Biomedical Centre, Oxford, UK
Correspondence to: Dr Charlotte I S Barker, Oxford Vaccine Group, Department of Paediatrics, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LE, UK
-
-------
The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Early Online Publication, 19 December 2013
doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70238-X
Copyright ? 2013 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
Pandemic influenza A H1N1 vaccines and narcolepsy: vaccine safety surveillance in action
Original Text
Dr Charlotte I S Barker BMBCh a b, Matthew D Snape MD a c
Summary
The 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic placed unprecedented demand on public health authorities and the vaccine industry. Efforts were coordinated internationally to maximise the speed of vaccine development, distribution, and delivery, and the European Union's novel fast-track authorisation procedures mandated increased postmarketing surveillance to monitor vaccine safety. Clinicians in Finland and Sweden later identified an apparent increase in the incidence of narcolepsy associated with a specific adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine. After extensive review, the European Medicines Agency confirmed the existence of this association, which has since been detected in England, Ireland, France, and Norway. Assessments of the causal mechanisms continue. In this Review, we discuss how the narcolepsy association was detected, and we present the evidence according to the causality assessment criteria for adverse events following immunisation. The lessons learnt emphasise the central role of alert clinicians in reporting of suspected adverse reactions, and the importance of internationally robust postmarketing surveillance strategies as crucial components in future mass immunisation programmes.
________
a Oxford Vaccine Group, Department of Paediatrics, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; b Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; c NIHR Oxford Biomedical Centre, Oxford, UK
Correspondence to: Dr Charlotte I S Barker, Oxford Vaccine Group, Department of Paediatrics, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LE, UK
-
-------