# 4541
For more than a week Australian public health officials have been dealing with reports of an unusual number of (seemingly) influenza vaccine related side effects among children under the age of five.
High fevers, nausea, and vomiting . . . and to a lesser extent febrile convulsions . . . appear to be the big complaints. One death, not yet officially linked to the vaccine, has been reported as well.
You’ll find earlier coverage of these events here, here, and here.
The vaccine in question is CSL’s Fluvax - a trivalent combination of seasonal and the novel H1N1 antigen - which has been primarily distributed in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.
To date, officials have been unable to ascertain the cause of these side-effects.
While the investigation is ongoing, Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, a Flinders University immunologist, and founder and chief executive of a rival vaccine company (Vaccine Limited), has his own theory.
He believes that high levels of RNA residue in this year’s vaccine are the cause of these adverse reactions in children; a product he claims, of a 50-year old egg-based vaccine manufacturing technology.
At this point, one should note that Professor Petrovsky is founder and promoter of a rival company that utilizes genetically modified insect cells (instead of eggs) to manufacture vaccine.
A technique he claims produces no RNA residue.
Since I’m not a scientist, I’m not qualified to embrace either side of this issue. I’ll simply pass along this excerpt from The Age, and await more learned opinions on the matter.
Residue in flu jab causing kids' reactions: scientist
GRAEME O'NEILL
May 2, 2010
A LEADING researcher claims to have identified why the seasonal flu vaccine is causing an outbreak of adverse reactions in children, including high temperatures, fits and convulsions.
Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, a Flinders University immunologist, says an experiment he carried out indicates that large amounts of viral genetic residue created by the vaccine's manufacture were overloading infants' immune systems.
The experiment left him in "absolutely no doubt" that high levels of the residue in the form of RNA (the viruses' genetic blueprint) were the cause.
Professor Petrovsky's claims were supported by Melbourne immunologist Professor Bryan Williams, whose team at the Monash Institute of Medical Research is at the forefront of research into how the immune system detects infection.
