Flu vaccine suspended in Australia

Seasonal flu vaccinations across Australia for children under five have been suspended after 23 children in Western Australia were admitted to hospitals with convulsions following their injections. One child, aged 1, remains in a coma in a Perth hospital. Commonwealth chief health officer Professor Jim Bishop yesterday announced the suspension while authorities urgently review data from around the country. Doctors are being advised to stop giving the flu vaccine to children.

More than 60 children around the state may have had adverse reactions to the vaccine, including fevers, vomiting and febrile convulsions - a type of fit brought on by a high fever. One child remains in a critical condition in hospital after being given the vaccine.

Officials say that since this year's vaccine program started a month ago, 23 children under the age of 10 had presented to Princess Margaret Hospital with convulsions related to vaccinations they had received less than 12 hours before. Another 40 convulsion cases had been detected in the past month in children at other metropolitan hospitals and in Bunbury. Doctors are now working to determine how many of those children received the flu vaccine. Aside from the convulsions, affected children were suffering fever and vomiting within 12 hours of their flu shots.

Health authorities are also working to determine if the entire Fluvax drug, or just batches, have caused the symptoms, and whether an alternative vaccine should be used. University of Western Australia school of Paediatrics and Child Health Associate Professor Peter Richmond said that only Fluvax - produced by Australia's biggest biopharmaceutical company CSL - was being used to vaccinate children in WA.

Perth mother of two Bea Flint said her 11-month-old boy Avery had a seizure after receiving the first dose of the two-dose flu vaccination on Saturday. Mrs Flint said that after the 9am vaccination she noticed Avery had a minor temperature about 2pm. She treated him with Panadol and by Avery's 7pm bedtime he seemed "OK". However, at 7.45pm, Avery started whimpering and moaning. When Mrs Flint got to his cot the baby had vomited and was lying on his side having a seizure. "In the car driving to the hospital he was just whimpering," she said. "He couldn't cry - his head was hanging down in the car seat and he couldn't move. "I was petrified - it was one of the worst experiences of my life." By the time Avery arrived at St John of God Hospital in Murdoch, he was burning up with a fever of 39.5 degrees.

Courtesy of the Western Australia Today