Swine Flu Vaccine ‘Safe And Effective’

Swine flu jabs set to be given to hundreds of thousands of people in Northern Ireland within weeks will be safe and effective, health chiefs said today.

Health Minister Michael McGimpsey had said the inoculation programme was due to be rolled out in September after the first batch of the drug was set to arrive this month ahead of a predicted pandemic.

In a bid to get the H1N1 vaccine to the public the European Medicines Agency, the EU's top drug regulatory body, has speeded up the approval process — allowing firms to bypass large-scale human medical trials.

It is giving the first doses the green light based on data from a previous ‘mock up’ vaccine of H5N1 bird flu, as both will have the same basic ingredients.

However, World Health Organization experts have expressed concern at the situation.

Human trials of a vaccine to protect against the H1N1 swine flu virus have begun in Australia but it will be at least six weeks before the initial results are known.

But Acting Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland Dr Liz Mitchell said she is “confident” that the vaccine delivered to people in Northern Ireland would be both safe and effective.

“Our first priority is to make sure that any vaccine administered would be safe,” she said.

“There has been a strong statement from the EMA to indicate that the insertion of the new strain of vaccine will not substantially affect the safety profile, or level of protection offered. That is based on decades of experience of seasonal flu vaccine.”

But it is understood frontline medical staff will be vaccinated first, followed by pregnant women, young children and adults with chronic illnesses.

The vaccine, once arrived, will be distributed through GPs.