Aug 18, 09 | Posted by: Sharyl Paley, M.D.

Reply to H1N1 question about safety

There are many questions that have come about because of the new H1N1 vaccine. Many of these relate to problems with the swine flu vaccine given in 1976. That vaccine was quickly halted after hundreds of cases of a syndrome called Guillan Barre developed. This is a severe neurologic condition that can result and paralysis and death. My understanding of what happened then is that they trialed one vaccine , but then proceeded with another.  I am not sure of the why or how of this. The one thing that is different now then in 1976 is that the swine flu never become an issue. The government was expecting spread and this did not occur. This year already is different in that we see how quickly the illness has spread. Although it has not caused the problems initially anticipated, this could change. As a pediatrician, I always am cautious with vaccines and would not recommend something I wouldn’t give to my own children. Vaccines are not perfect and we do need to proceed with caution. One always must evaluate the risk-benefit ratio before giving a vaccine. If the risk of catching the illness and having significant consequences is higher then the risk of a vaccine, it is important to get the vaccine. I do believe in the safety studies that currently are ongoing. I also am more optimistic since the initial vaccine that will come out follows the same formula that we use every year in making a new flu vaccine. The safety studies done now and in the past should help us make the decision. If there is a more rare complication, this would not be seen until mass immunization would be initiated. This would be the one in a million problem. The risk of complications from the flu would be higher then this though. Stay tuned as more information is discovered.

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