Published 8 September 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3656
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3656

News

Australia’s swine flu vaccination plans come under fire

Melissa Sweet

1 Sydney

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Australian government’s impending programme of vaccination against H1N1 flu has been criticised by some professional groups that have raised concerns about potential risks.

The Australian Infection Control Association this week warned the government against proceeding with the programme, saying that the planned use of multidose vials (used to vaccinate several people) posed a "significant potential risk to patient safety."

The association’s president, Claire Boardman, said that use of multidose vials would contravene national infection control guidelines (www.safetyandquality.gov.au/internet/safety/publishing.nsf/Content/02A94EEE98D72244CA25740F00251B98/$File/NationalInfectionControlGuidelines.pdf) and that numerous adverse events related to their use had been well documented.

Ms Boardman said there was no justification for using multidose vials, as "the occurrence and distribution of H1N1 in 2009 within Australia does not constitute an emergency."

She added, "We advise strongly against the use of multidose vials and do not support this mechanism for dissemination of the vaccine," and warned that the "high risk of failure" . . . [Full text of this article]


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multidose vials
John B Ziegler
bmj.com, 11 Sep 2009 [Full text]
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Melissa A Sweet
bmj.com, 29 Sep 2009 [Full text]
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