Flu Vaccine Recall
Health officials are recalling hundreds of thousands of doses of H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine after tests indicated they may not be potent enough to protect against the virus.
As many of you may have heard on the news, there has been a recall of several lots of the H1N1, injectable thimerisol-free vaccine. The recall is not due to safety concerns, but to a potential lack of potency of the vaccine. A review of our records indicates that we did have some of this vaccine for children under three-years old. It is not necessary to determine which children may have received this vaccine since no action needs to be taken. If your child has already received both doses, then nothing further needs to be done. If your child is due for the second vaccine, then keep the appointment as scheduled.
None of the nasal mist or the vaccine for children over three was included in the recall.
Following is the official statement from the FDA/CDC regarding this recall:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. CDC have evaluated the data and are confident that the health of children immunized with this product has not been compromised. Moreover, persons immunized with these lots do not need re-immunization because the drop in antigen content is unlikely to result in a clinically significant reduction in immune response. The CDC has stated that parents of children who received vaccine from the recalled lots do not need to take any action other than to complete the two-dose immunization series if not already completed.
