Israel suspends flu shots after four die

Monday Oct 23 08:13 AEST

Israel suspended flu vaccinations nationwide after four men who had been inoculated died in the past week, the Health Ministry says.

"I ordered to stop the vaccinations until things are made clear," Israeli Health Minister Yacov Ben Yizri told reporters.

"We have started to investigate everything related to this case," he said.

The ministry said it had asked the French firm Aventis, which manufactured the vaccine, to conduct its own investigation.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=154705

Now I'm a little leery.

I am not afraid, I am sure our vaccines have a different standard than Israel's.

the single HMO has a problem with 3 out of 140,000 admistered in Israel so far - not a thing I'd wory about.

But I suggest Israel's medical protection by the Government is as strong or stronger than what we have in the US. :-)

The U.S. system relies almost entirely on the private sector to distribute flu vaccines. Each manufacturer's vaccine must be approved and distributed separately.

Sanofi Pasteur and MedImmune are this years makers. And Israel imports from them as well as the many Novartis and Chiron plants/labs.


Aventis Pasteur SA
2 Avenue Pont Pasteur
69367 Lyon Cedex 07
France

MedImmune Vaccines Inc.
297 North Bernando Drive.
Mountain View, CA 94043


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3318095,00.html

Deaths linked to flu vaccine


Health Ministry orders clinics to halt flu vaccinations after three citizens die three days after receiving flu vaccine at HMO. Health minister says no link found between vaccinations, deaths; later, another death following flu vaccine reported in different clinic

Flu vaccines world wide are produced by two major manufacturers Novartis and Chiron. The Health Ministry tests all imported vaccines before being approved for sale in Israel.


Health Minister Yacov Ben Yizri said Sunday evening that "more than 140,000 have been injected with a flu vaccination in the State of Israel, and the only place where this incident happened, in which three people died, a very rare incident, was in one HMO."

Or about 100 out of Israel's entire population of roughly 5 million. I believe that's about how many died in the latest war.

had nothing to do with their deaths, or so it seems now.

Israel will be starting to give out shots again today.

52 isn't really old and the phrase "suffered from ailments including diabetes and heart disease" can cover a lot of ground. I think it still bears watching.

"Three died from cardiac arrest and the immediate cause of death of the fourth is unknown. Hospital officials said they were aged 52 to 76 and had suffered from ailments including diabetes and heart disease.

People aged 65 or older or those with severe heart conditions are at high risk from complications from influenza, which kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide each year, and are usually encouraged to be vaccinated against it."

to protect the pharmaceutical companies.

transplant so I have to get them, this gives me a warm fuzzy.......................

As opposed to the kind that the healthcare giver has to draw up right as it is given.
I only ask because as I was in line at the hospital that I work at, the person giving the shots said that several nurses had had "a reaction" to the pre filled syringes earlier in the week (those in line with me said that they had heard about the "reactions")--so the facility changed to the kind that have to be drawn up manually.
No one got specific about what KIND of reaction, though. The nurses were not elderly or with chronic illnesses. Add in those 2 factors and it could lead to a severe illness or death if the person is not strong enough to fight off what would be a "reaction" that the younger/healthier could recover from.