Swine Flu Vaccine Recall

Vaccine maker Sanofi-Aventis is recalling four lots of its pediatric H1N1 swine flu vaccine because it is not as potent as it should be, U.S. officials said. A spokesman for the CDC said the recall represents less than 1% of the more than 95 million vaccine doses available for order in the U.S. by the states. The recalled vaccine is specifically packaged for use in children ages 6 months to nearly 3 years. There is no safety concern and children vaccinated from the lots already will not need to be re-vaccinated, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The CDC said the four lots were discovered as part of a quality assurance testing program and that the company had also notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Also Canadian doctors have been advised not to use a batch of 170,000 swine flu vaccines after six reports of serious allergic reactions among recipients, but there are no similar reports from other countries, pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline stated. Authorities routinely monitor vaccines for any signals of problems, such as the allergic reactions that do occur, rarely, every year. Six people in Canada had suffered an allergic reaction, the batch contained about 170,000 doses. It was not immediately clear how many had been administered, although Vail said the majority had been.

Despite the recall, the CDC said the vaccine lots in question do not pose any safety risk. The agency added that children who received the vaccine do not need to be revaccinated, as the vaccine should still be effective against the virus.