16 March 2005

Double-dose vaccine, double-dose risk

It would be unwise to double-dose New Zealanders with the flu vaccine due to the increased risk of side-effects and exposure to mercury, the Greens Party says.

“Many people are not aware that the flu vaccine contains thiomersal, also known as mercury,” Green Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley said.

“Mercury is a highly-toxic substance, which causes irreversible damage to the central nervous system, can affect the developing foetus and can accumulate in the body.

“If the Health Ministry plans to inject everyone twice to try to make up for the vaccine’s failure to cover all the flu strains, the public should be warned that not only are they facing a bigger risk of side-effects, they are also getting a bigger dose of mercury.”

The American Food and Drug Administration has ordered that vaccines be reformulated to remove thiomersal.

In response to written questions from Ms Kedgley, Health Minister Annette King confirmed that thiomersal has been phased out of some vaccines in keeping with international practice “as a precautionary measure based on a theoretical risk of toxicity” from it.

ENDS

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