Japan Four children die after vaccination

Four infants have died after vaccination: Japan stops vaccinations in children with immediate effect

07.03.2011

After a vaccine against meningitis and pneumonia four children have died in Japan. Any further inoculations with the vaccines have been stopped by the Japanese Ministry of Health for the time being.

In view of the four deaths of infants after being vaccinated against meningitis and pneumonia, the Japanese government has been forced to suspend further use of the vaccines. However, the causes of the deaths have not yet been clarified. According to the health authorities, for example, contamination of the vaccine is conceivable.

Vaccinations against meningitis and pneumonia stopped
Since it is unclear whether the vaccine was the cause of infants' deaths, the Japanese government has suspended any further use of pneumonia, meningitis and other infections for the time being. According to the Ministry of Health, the decision taken on Saturday includes the serums „ActHib“ of the French company Sanofi-Aventis and „Prevenar“ of the US company Pfizer. According to the website of the Ministry of Health, the vaccinations are suspended until the cause of death of the children is clarified. The four infants, aged between a few months and a maximum of two years, died after being vaccinated with the drug for pneumonia and meningitis. The deaths occurred between 2 and 4 March, prompting the Japanese Ministry of Health to order the suspension of vaccinations immediately. The infants were partly still on the day of vaccination died; a maximum of three days have elapsed after administration of the drug, so the statement of the Ministry.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers ready to cooperate
The Japanese Ministry of Health said that meningitis and pneumonia vaccinations began more than a year ago in Japan, and that as many as 1.5 million children have been treated with Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis drugs. Comparable problems have not occurred so far. Pfizer, after the deaths, had agreed to check on a possible link with his vaccine „Prevenar“ to cooperate with the health authorities. However, the active ingredient has been used successfully for about ten years, said the pharmaceutical company. Only in February of last year, the Dutch health authorities had examined the deaths of three children, who after vaccination with „Prevenar“ had died. However, no link with the funds was found. The vaccine preparation „ActHib“ Sanofi-Aventis was approved according to the manufacturer in 1992 in France and a year later in the US.

Vaccination critics warn against health consequences
Again and again, vaccine critics urge that many of the regularly administered vaccines pose a significant risk to those affected. In particular, for the health of infants, the vaccinations are a significant burden. Even though pharmaceutical manufacturers and state institutions rule out a connection with vaccination in most cases, the significantly higher number of cases of sudden child death after vaccination is, in the eyes of the vaccination opponents, proof enough of the severe health consequences of vaccinations on the organism Infants may have. For each vaccination, the affected should therefore be aware of the vaccine benefit and the possible vaccination risks. This means that in the case of diseases that are relatively harmless, according to the vaccine critics, vaccination could tend to be dispensed with. If the corresponding vaccine also have significant side effects, the waiver of vaccination is urgently needed, so the position of the vaccine opponents. Whether or not the risk of meningitis and pneumonia vaccines will be re-evaluated in the future will probably be clarified in the coming weeks by studies of the four infant deaths in Japan. (Fp)