Elderly Man Dies After H1N1 Shot
Source: CBC News
Posted: 11/18/09 9:28AM
Filed Under: Canada
A Quebec man in his 80s died after being vaccinated against swine flu, officials said Tuesday.
They said it was too soon to determine whether the vaccine played a role in the death of the man, who had underlying health issues.
Quebec's director of public health protection, Dr. Horacio Arruda, declined to say what region the man was from or when he died, citing confidentiality concerns.
Arruda could not say why the man had received the vaccine. People over the age of 65 are not among the priority groups currently being vaccinated in the province.
He said final test results to confirm whether the vaccine played a role in the man’s death are expected in December.
Arruda said he was confident the incident would not discourage people from being vaccinated against H1N1 flu.
"I understand that everyone is worried," Arruda said, but stressed that serious reactions are "very rare phenomena."
Fewer than 1 in 100,000
Out of 6.6 million H1N1 vaccinations, there have been 36 reported serious adverse reactions to the vaccine in Canada, including the possible death, as of Nov. 7, said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada’s chief public health officer.
Butler-Jones told an Ottawa news conference that the number of reactions is below one serious adverse event per 100,000 people, which is in line with what officials expected.
"Actually the reactions so far to the pandemic vaccine had been less than we normally see with the seasonal vaccine," Butler-Jones said.
Butler-Jones said most of the serious problems have been anaphylactic reactions — massive allergic responses that can be life-threatening — or convulsions brought on by fever.
The vast majority of reactions to the vaccine are minor, he emphasized, such as a sore arm, a mild fever and malaise.
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Canadians are doing "the right thing" by being vaccinated.
"National and international data is showing that the vaccine is producing an immune response of about 94 per cent in people who receive it," Aglukkaq said. "This is remarkable because normally response to the vaccine for the seasonal flu is about 60 to 80 per cent."
So far in Quebec 37 people have died of complications related to the flu since Aug. 30, while more than 1,500 have been hospitalized.
83 %
17 %
