Elderly Israeli dies three days after getting swine flu vaccine - Investigation finds no connection

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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=t11 id=inputDate>Last update - 17:33 08/11/2009 </TD><TD>

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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=t18B vAlign=top colSpan=2>Elderly Israeli dies three days after getting swine flu vaccine </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=t11B vAlign=top colSpan=2>By Dan Even, Haaretz Correspondent </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

An elderly Israeli man died unexpectedly over the weekend, three days after he was vaccinated against swine flu.

Health Ministry sources said that although the 75-year-old man's death on Friday was indeed sudden, an initial investigation has shown that it was likely unrelated to the vaccine.

The deceased, who had been undergoing dialysis treatment at Wolfson Hospital in Holon, was vaccinated on Tuesday following the Health Ministry's decision to vaccinate dialysis patients of all ages as part of a nationwide vaccination program against swine flu.

Hospital sources said the man may have died of a heart attack.

Hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine produced by the Swiss Novartis pharmaceutical company and the British firm GlaxoSmithKline have already arrived in Israel, and 1,100 Israelis have been vaccinated so far.

According to a recent Health Ministry report, last week there was a 72 percent increase in the number of people in Israel infected with the pandemic.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1126681.html

 

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Re: Elderly Israeli dies three days after getting swine flu vaccine

Re: Elderly Israeli dies three days after getting swine flu vaccine

Ministry: Swine flu shot not linked to death of elderly man

By Dan Even

A 75-year-old dialysis patient from Bat Yam died over the weekend, three days after he was innoculated against swine flu. Health Ministry officials said his death did not appear to have any connection with the vaccine.

"An initial investigation indicates that this was a coincidence," the Health Ministry said in a statement. Advertisement


Although some have expressed concern about possible side effects, there have been no deaths shown to be linked to the vaccine. The Health Ministry noted that the World Health Organization has recommended the swine flu vaccine and said it meets all the criteria for safety and efficacy.

A recent article in the Lancet medical journal found that one in every 1.6 million people who receive the vaccine can be expected to die within six weeks of being innoculated, for reasons unconnected to the vaccine.

The Bat Yam man, who had kidney and heart disease and had been undergoing dialysis treatment at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, was vaccinated Tuesday in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines recommending that the vaccine be given to dialysis patients of all ages and to chronically ill patients between ages 3 and 65.

He died Friday, possibly of a heart attack.

"The man received the vaccine in accordance with the guidelines," the Health Ministry said. "Remember that the patients who are being vaccinated at this stage suffer from serious illnesses, and the probability that their disease will worsen is not related to whether they got this vaccine or any other."

Hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine have already arrived in Israel, and 1,100 Israelis have been vaccinated so far. The Health Ministry said last week there was a 72 percent increase in the number of Israelis infected with the virus.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1126797.html

 

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Re: Elderly Israeli dies three days after getting swine flu vaccine - Investigation finds no connection

Nov 9, 2009 2:58 | Updated Nov 9, 2009 8:16

Death may scare public off H1N1 shot

The sudden death of a 75-year-old man at home on Friday, two days after he was vaccinated against the <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_0_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: darkgreen">H1N1</NOBR> (swine flu) virus may lead others to hesitate to get vaccinated, officials say.

Such an event was feared by the Health <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_1_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: darkgreen">Ministry</NOBR> and the Prime Minister's Office, which launched an expensive vaccination campaign just a few days ago.

The death "apparently" had nothing to do with the shot, the ministry said.

The man, who lived in Bat Yam but was not further identified, had been undergoing ambulatory dialysis for acute renal insufficiency and also suffered from heart disease. His family refused to allow an autopsy, the ministry said, so the exact cause of death cannot be determined.

The ministry said on Sunday that the first group to get their shots are those at high risk for complications of the H1N1 <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_4_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: darkgreen">flu</NOBR> and that it is "likely" that his serious diseases caused his death.

By instruction of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, some 7.3 million doses of H1N1 flu vaccine - enough for every resident over the age of six months - have been ordered at a cost of NIS 500 million.

Although Health Ministry public health officials advised Netanyahu - who holds the health portfolio, though the ministry is run by Deputy Health Minister Ya'acov Litzman - to import many fewer doses, Netanyahu decided otherwise.

The prime minister appeared at the press conference that launched the campaign and called on everyone to get the shot as a "civic duty" even though he himself did not bare his arm; his spokesman said Netanyahu would "consult with his personal physician" before deciding whether to be vaccinated.

Litzman, who was also at the press conference, didn't take the shot, either, but Health Ministry director-general Dr. Eitan Hai-Am did, as the cameras clicked.

The ministry said that the H1N1 vaccines are strongly endorsed by the World Health Organization.

In the fall of 2006, after two elderly men died a few days after getting vaccinated at their health fund clinic against ordinary flu, Israelis nearly stopped getting the shots. Even then-health minister Ya'acov Ben-Yizri, 79, getting a flu shot on camera to build public confidence flopped. As a result, many hundreds of thousands of doses had to be destroyed because they are effective for only a year.

The H1N1 vaccine may also be unusable next fall and winter if the virus mutates into a different strain.

Several months ago, a ministry poll showed that at least a quarter of the public said they were not interested in getting an H1N1 flu shot. So far, the queues for getting the H1N1 flu shot have been short.

Since Rosh Hashana, more than 13 percent of the public has gone for a seasonal flu shot, including only about half of the elderly who are at high risk.

Dr. Itamar Grotto, the Health Ministry's chief of public health, said on Sunday night that some 10,000 people - especially medical staffers, as well as patients at high risk for complications of the H1N1 flu - have been vaccinated so far.

After any vaccination, the individual must wait in the clinic for 20 minutes to make sure he is not among the very rare people who have a severe reaction from an allergy to the egg white in which the vaccine is prepared.


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