# 4014
With every day that passes, millions more people around the world are receiving the H1N1 vaccine, in either the adjuvanted or unadjuvanted formulations.
In the US somewhere around 50 million have been inoculated against H1N1, in Europe the number is more than 10 million, and in China more than 20 million have received a shot.
Thus far, despite the frantic warnings of the anti-vaccine contingent over the past 6 months, these vaccines have proved to be remarkably safe.
While no vaccine is 100% benign, most of the side effects that have been reported with the H1N1 vaccine have been minor. The number of severe reactions have been small, and within the range normally seen with seasonal flu vaccines.
A little over a week ago, we got a very encouraging report from the VAERS project (see VAERS Vaccine Safety Report).
The percentage of reports involving what would be considered serious health events is not different between 2009 H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccines. Additionally, no new or unusual events or pattern of adverse events have emerged. VAERS reports continue to be monitored as more vaccine is administered. – VAERS Nov 25th Report
Today, the EU (European Union) reports similar results. This from Reuters.
EU: no safety concerns as 10 million get H1N1 shots
Thu Dec 3, 2009 6:36am EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Some 10 million people across the European Union have now been vaccinated against H1N1 swine flu and so far no unexpected serious safety issues have been identified, the region's drugs watchdog said on Thursday.
<SNIP>
New clinical trial data did show a greater incidence of fever following the second dose of Pandemrix in babies from 6 to 35 months and an assessment of that data was ongoing, the agency added.
Fergus Walsh, medical writer for the BBC and author of the Fergus On Flu blog, has a similar report today, where he discusses statements made by the World Health Organization’s Keiji Fukuda about vaccines.
I’ve just posted an excerpt, follow the link to read the entire blog.
150m doses of vaccine distributed worldwide
Fergus Walsh | 12:53 UK time, Thursday, 3 December 2009
A brief update from the World Health Organization's Dr Keiji Fukuda. He estimates that more than 150m doses of H1N1 pandemic vaccine have been distributed in 40 countries and the safety profile continues to be similar to seasonal flu vaccines.
He could shed no light on when the H1N1 swine flu strain would be incorporated into the normal trivalent seasonal flu jab or when the pandemic might be declared to be over: "It's fair to say that we haven't got through the pandemic and there could be unexpected events."
