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Swine flu shots with lesser potency recalled by Sanofi Pasteur
by Jamie Anderson - December 16, 2009 - comments
The swine flu shots for children that have been recalled come as pre-filled syringes, and do not contain the mercury-based preservative thimerosal
Baltimore, December 16 -- As many as 800,000 doses of a swine flu vaccine meant for children were recalled by the manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, after tests revealed that the vaccine was not as effective as it was thought to be.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clarified that the recall was due to the lack of potency of the medicine and not due to any safety issue.
Nothing to worry for parents of vaccinated children
According to the CDC, the vaccine, even with a reduction in its strength, worked against the virus. Furthermore, the reduction in strength was not found to be "clinically significant".
There is no cause of concern for parents whose children have already been administered the swine flu shots, claims the CDC.
Frances Phillips, the state's deputy secretary for public health services, assured the apprehensive parents, "This is a hiccup, but it's not a hiccup in terms of vaccine safety. Parents whose children got the one-time syringe don't need to call their pediatrician.”
“There's no particular action that parents need to take in connection with this recall, which is a really good thing," added Phillips.
Dr. Susan Fernyak, director of communicable disease control and prevention at the San Francisco Department of Public Health averred, "Most likely children who already received the vaccine are going to have an adequate immune response. We're going to accept they got proper immunity from it."
Go in for the second shot
The vaccine in question is meant for children aged between 6 months and 3 years. To be most effective, the vaccine must be given twice, four weeks apart.
The CDC has even asked the parents to go ahead and have their children get a second shot.
"Our message is, make sure your child gets the second dose," Phillips said. "We can't go back and change the one you got. But you can make sure they get the second dose."
Meanwhile, the state health department has sent e-mail messages alerting providers of the recall. Special alerts have been sent to doctors who have received recalled batches of the vaccine.
"There are no safety concerns. There are no steps for parents to take, so we don't think it's necessary for pediatricians to comb through literally thousands of children's records to go through which ones were vaccinated and which ones were vaccinated with this particular lot," Phillips clarified.
Although this vaccine with reduced strength and the subsequent recall has had no detrimental impact, the incident has only frustrated the providers who have been clamoring for swine flu shots.