Flu jab sick toll passes 250

Flu jab sick toll passes 250
Updated 6 hours 20 minutes ago


One child is in a critical condition at Princess Margaret Hospital. (7pm TV News WA)

Related Story: Flu vax reactions not from single batch: WHO Related Story: Parents urged to report flu vaccine concerns Related Story: Police investigate girl's death after flu vaccine West Australia's chief health officer says there are now 251 confirmed cases in the state of children aged under five having adverse reactions to flu vaccinations.

Last week the Health Department placed a temporary ban on flu shots for children under five after reports of children getting sick after being vaccinated.

The Department says 55 children have had convulsions after being vaccinated while nearly 200 others have suffered fever and vomiting.

One child is in a serious but stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Chief health officer Dr Tarun Weeramanthri says confirming the number of cases is a significant step forward in the search for the cause of the adverse reactions.

"We'll now be sharing that information with our colleagues from other states and territories. Once that national picture is built up this week we'll know more about whether there is a problem, which areas it is in, what possible causes there are," he said.

Dr Weeramanthri says he is working with other states and territories to determine the scale of the problem.

"We don't have any idea for national figures. We've agreed on a standard way to report the cases nationally. All states and territories are gathering the information very actively and we should be in a position to share that information nationally by the middle of next week," he said.

He says because of the size of the immunisation program, it is likely the vaccinations in question came from several batches.

"We found no evidence of any single batch being the cause of these reactions," he said.

Dr Weeramanthri says it will take time to determine the cause of the problem.

"We don't know yet. First of all we have to work out how much of a problem this is," he said.

"As you know, fever with illness in children is common due to any cause, so there's lots of viruses circulating at any one point in time.

"We also know that fever following vaccination is not uncommon, so what we've done is gather as much information as we can about the numbers of children affected; both overall with any kind of reaction, but also at the more serious end, this group with febrile convulsions."

While immunisation numbers are down, Dr Weeramanthri says he is confident parents will continue to vaccinate their children once the source of the reactions is found.

"I think the public have fantastic support for the immunisation program in Western Australia and the basis of that support is that we communicate with them very clearly the risks and benefits of vaccination in general and for specific programs," he said.

"I think they will be assured that with this program, as soon as any clinical problem or the reports of clinical problems emerged, we acted promptly."

Tags: health, influenza, wa