Are swine flu vaccines effective?
There’s no need to worry on the safety or efficacy
of the anti-swine flu vaccines being currently developed in different
countries, said the World Health Organization.
Taking
notice of the fears being expressed in different quarters on the safety or
risks in using the vaccines, the WHO said the regulatory procedures in place
for the licencing of pandemic vaccines, including procedures for expediting
regulatory approval, are rigorous and do not compromise safety or quality.
Drug
companies in several countries are in an advanced stage of developing a H1N1
influenza vaccine to check the swine flu pandemic which has swept across over
160 countries, affecting over 1.5 million (confirmed cases; actual number may
be far higher) and killing nearly 1,000 persons. In India, too, over two dozen
people have lost their lives due to swine flu in recent weeks, in different
cities.
Some
Indian drug companies are also engaged in developing a swine flu vaccine based
on the seed strain of H1N1 influenza virus provided by the WHO. However, it may
take a few months to develop and test the vaccines and get approval for their
general use.
In
a statement issued from Geneva, the WHO has said: "Influenza vaccines have
been used for over 60 years and have an established record of safety in all age
groups." At the same time, it has also cautioned that some adverse events
may arise during a pandemic when the vaccine is administered on a massive
scale.
"Some
adverse events, which may be too rare to show up even in large clinic trials,
may become apparent when very large numbers of people receive a pandemic
vaccine," the WHO has said, while maintaining that such cases will be
rare.
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