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A spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) clarified today (February 9) that the adjuvanted vaccine manufactured by the British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) against pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009, Pandemrix has no record of registration in Hong Kong.
The above was made in response to media enquiry on a report issued a little earlier by the National Institute of Health and Welfare of Finland about an increased risk of narcolepsy among their children and adolescents vaccinated with Pandemrix.
Narcolepsy is a disorder that causes people to fall asleep suddenly, but is rarely fatal.
The spokesman stated that DH had also been following the agenda closely and noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s subject unit, the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), having considered all data available, had issued a statement this week that further investigation is warranted concerning narcolepsy and Pandemrix vaccination. At this stage, it does not appear that narcolepsy following vaccination against pandemic influenza is a general worldwide phenomenon.
The explanation given by GACVS for its recommendation included that while it agreed with the Finnish authority that there was an association between vaccination and narcolepsy in their country, genetic predisposition might have contributed in their case, as Finnish data revealed that in all 22 narcolepsy patients tested, everyone had a gene commonly associated with narcolepsy.
Moreover, despite that Pandemrix was being used by 47 countries worldwide during the 2009/10 season, WHO had only received notifications of significantly higher instances of narcolepsy from Iceland and Sweden apart from Finland. GACVS was aware that nine other countries had reported narcolepsy cases after vaccination.
Taking all available facts into account, GACVS decided that further investigation may help clarify the determinants of any increased risk of narcolepsy. Meanwhile, they have not advised against the use of the vaccine but will continue to monitor the situation closely.
"In any case, the vaccine is not presently available in Hong Kong's market," the DH spokesman reconfirmed.
Ends/Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 21:06
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