From: Jagannath Chatterjee <jagchat01@yahoo.com>
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Sent: Wednesday, 22 July, 2009 17:52:01
Subject: [IHRO] Swine Flu Vaccine Needs Compensation Program.
http://aftermathnew s.wordpress. com/2009/ 07/21/swine- flu-vaccine- will-need- compensation- program-expert/Swine flu vaccine will need compensation program: ExpertJuly 21, 2009 · Leave a CommentCanwest News Service | Jul 20, 2009 By Sharon Kirkey OTTAWA — A leading public health expert is calling on Canada to create a no-fault compensation program for people who may be harmed by a swine flu vaccine that millions of Canadians will be urged by the government to get this fall. Kumanan Wilson, Canada research chair in public health at the University of Ottawa, said in an interview with Canwest News Service that children and adults could be exposed to an incompletely tested vaccine and that a compensation scheme is needed to encourage the public to buy into any mass immunization program. Related Don't Even Think About Suing if You're Hurt by Swine Flu Vaccines When the World Health Organization last month proclaimed swine flu the first pandemic since 1968, Canada's chief public health officer, David Butler-Jones, said everyone should get the new flu shot when it becomes available. "The more people that have immunity, the easier it is to stop," he said. But Canwest News Service has learned that, unlike the United States, the Public Health Agency of Canada has no plans to compensate people who may be injured by an H1N1 vaccine. A vaccine injury program would give people who suffer an adverse reaction faster access to compensation without having to go through the legal system. Quebec is the only jurisdiction in Canada that has a non-fault compensation program. Public Health Agency of Canada officials acknowledged last week there won't be time for a swine flu vaccine to go through standard safety testing before immunizations begin in the fall. The first doses are expected to be available in three to four months. Officials said they are working with regulators on ways to reduce any time required for getting the vaccine out. Canada could invoke emergency provisions to get the vaccine out quicker, before all the data from human trials that test safety are complete. That happened in 1976, when an outbreak of swine flu at the Fort Dix army base in New Jersey spawned a nationwide emergency vaccination program. Manufacturers wanted legal protection against vaccine-related injury claims, so Congress enacted legislation allowing people to sue the federal government. About 45 million Americans were vaccinated. Reports soon emerged of unusually high rates of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare, neurological disorder that can cause temporary paralysis. More than 5,000 people sued for vaccine-related injuries, resulting in payouts totalling $73 million. In the 1980s, the U.S. introduced no-fault compensation for all vaccines. "I'm not saying we shouldn't roll out this vaccine (against H1N1 influenza)," said Wilson, an expert in pandemic planning. "I don't know how confident we will be in its efficacy and safety at the outset, but I don't think we'll have any choice but to roll it out, because, at this point, the only way to control the spread is going to be a vaccine." But "there are going to be concerns about people not wanting to take the vaccine, health-care workers in particular," he said. "We have been arguing that it needs to be complemented with a no-fault compensation program, just like in 1976, and we need to develop systems to pick up these adverse events." He and other experts say the current system for monitoring for serious or unexpected reactions is inadequate. The government has two systems in place: The first is a mostly voluntary reporting one. The second involves a network of 12 children's hospitals across Canada, where nurses and investigators regularly review admission records, looking for serious events in children who had recently been immunized, "so all seizure kids are looked at, and a whole bunch of other ones," said Dr. Noni MacDonald, a leader in pediatric infectious diseases at Dalhousie University in Halifax. "I think most of us are pretty comfortable that we would probably pick up serious adverse events requiring hospitalization in the pediatric age group," MacDonald said. "But we're only in the process of setting up a similar kind of active surveillance system for adults." Under a compensation program, claims would serve as an early signal of a possible problem with the swine flu vaccine, Wilson said. Meanwhile, some First Nations leaders argued Monday that aboriginal people should be a top priority for swine flu immunization when a vaccine is ready. As the Assembly of First Nations meets in Calgary this week to elect a new national chief, the organization is also expected to turn its attention to H1N1 influenza and preparing for the fall flu season. "There has to be some priority given to our First Nations people (for vaccination) ," said Angus Toulouse, Ontario regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations. "There's data one could use to say First Nations are more at risk." Glen Sanderson, a policy analyst with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said a number of risk factors in some remote communities have likely contributed to the quick spread of H1N1, including crowded housing conditions. Aboriginal populations also have higher rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity, which may be risk factors for developing serious cases of H1N1. "The rates of H1N1 are disproportionately high (in some remote communities) ," said Sanderson. "It's the living conditions." Canadian scientists were the first to report a syndrome — oculorespiratory syndrome — that was linked to one batch of seasonal flu vaccine in British Columbia in 2000. The syndrome causes red eyes, respiratory distress, throat tightness and facial swelling. A nasal flu vaccine licensed in Switzerland in October 2000 was linked with a significantly increased risk of Bell's palsy, one-sided paralysis of facial muscles. Normally, about one person in 100,000 a year develops Guillain-Barre syndrome. An Ontario study estimated that influenza vaccination increases the risk of developing the syndrome by 45 per cent, which translates into about one additional case per million people vaccinated. But other studies haven't shown a similar association. As of July 15, a total of 10,156 laboratory-confirme d cases of pandemic H1N1, including 1,115 hospitalizations and 45 deaths, had been reported in Canada. A new study of the outbreak of swine flu at a private school in Nova Scotia in April — the first cases of human-to-human infection in Canada — found that, unlike regular season flu, only 59 per cent had a fever. Common symptoms included cough, headache, sore throat and nasal congestion. The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, showed that vaccination with the regular seasonal flu shot didn't protect the vaccinated kids from swine flu, and that symptoms sent 80 per cent of those infected to the campus infirmary. "If you're going to ask people to take the swine flu vaccine for the common good, then let's make sure for the common good that these people will be taken care of if something goes wrong," - Paul Pennock, Medico-legal expert. |
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