Associated Press

LONDON — The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline says it has advised medical staff in Canada to not use one batch of swine flu vaccine for fear it may trigger life-threatening allergies.

GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Gwenan White said Tuesday the company issued the advice after reports that one batch of the swine flu vaccine might have caused more allergic reactions than normal.

She says the affected batch contains 172,000 doses of the vaccine. She declined to say how many doses had been administered before the advice to stop using them was given.

White says GlaxoSmithKline wrote to Canadian healthcare professionals advising them to stop using the batch on Nov. 18. She says a total of 7.5 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed in Canada.

Canadian Press

TORONTO — Families in several provinces were expressing outrage and concern Tuesday after they said their children got double the recommended dose of the H1N1 vaccine, but at least one medical expert said there’s little need for concern.

Parents in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia have reported that their children received the amount in the adult dose instead of the pediatric dose of the swine flu shot.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has received reports of the wrong dose being given out to children but cannot provide exact figures, said spokeswoman Nadia Mostafa, who referred the question to provincial health ministries.

The agency’s guidelines call for adults to receive 0.5 ml in a single shot of the adjuvanted vaccine. The recommendation for children between six months of age to nine years is two half doses at least three weeks apart.

A stressed-out father in Delta, B.C., urged parents to check the dose themselves before their children get the shot. Jeevan Tauro said his three-year-old daughter and 17-month-old son were given the 0.5 ml dose at a Burnaby walk-in clinic Nov. 3.

In a telephone interview from his home Tuesday, Tauro said he asked the doctor if they should return to the clinic three weeks later to get the second half of the flu shot, but the doctor told him not to.

The doctor said there was only one shot and no subsequent vaccination, “so that raised my doubts (as to) what he had actually done,” said Tauro.

The receptionist told him his children had received the full adult dose, he said.

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CBC News

An Ottawa city councillor wants to call in the Armed Forces to help conduct swine flu vaccinations.

Coun. Bob Monette said Thursday he has written to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq asking if doctors, nurses and medics from the Canadian Forces could be deployed in cities across Canada to help with the H1N1 vaccinations.

Monette said the idea came to him after speaking with a constituent who’s a member of the Forces.

“Why not think of all the possibilities?” Monette said.

“This was one more possibility that I found was worthwhile looking into, and let’s see if anything comes from it. If we can get one or two doctors, a nurse, to help out, then it’s worthwhile,” he said.

Ottawa-Orleans MP Royal Galipeau has endorsed Monette’s idea. He said he’s also written to the health minister and to the minister of defence.

By Helen Branswell Medical Reporter (Canadian Press)

TORONTO — Canada is buying 1.8 million doses of H1N1 vaccine it hopes people won’t want and won’t wait for.

The Public Health Agency of Canada urged pregnant women who are 20 weeks or more into their pregnancy and parents of children under three on Wednesday to take or to give their kids a swine flu shot containing an adjuvant, an additive that boosts the body’s response to the vaccine.

The agency has purchased 1.8 million doses of vaccine made without an adjuvant, but it won’t be licensed until some time in early November. The main vaccination effort, involving vaccine containing an adjuvant, should start next week in many provinces and territories.

When Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Friday that Health Canada had approved the adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine the country is purchasing, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. David Butler-Jones urged people not to wait for the unadjuvanted alternative.

“For under three (year olds) there will be some unadjuvanted (vaccine) as an option. But I wouldn’t wait for my grandchildren.,” Butler-Jones said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

He said the pandemic vaccine task group, an expert committee advising the Public Health Agency on vaccine issues, unanimously recommended that young kids be vaccinated with the adjuvanted vaccine. Adjuvanted vaccine seems to work better than plain vaccine in little kids, who have a developing immune system.

“The expert recommendation is that adjuvanted vaccine is the recommended formulation for this age group,” said Dr. Carolyn Pim, senior medical officer with the public health agency.

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