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Dundee University research supports safety of swine flu vaccine

Protesters march to the Scottish  Parliament in an "anti-swine flu vaccination protest" along the Royal Mile Edinburgh.
Protesters march to the Scottish Parliament in an "anti-swine flu vaccination protest" along the Royal Mile Edinburgh.

Dundee University researchers have provided more evidence that the vaccine used during the swine flu pandemic was safe.

Almost 500 people across the UK died after contracting the H1N1 strain of the virus in 2009-10. The UK Government recommended certain groups of people should be vaccinated because the disease was spreading quickly.

To meet the urgent demand, the vaccines were moved more rapidly than usual through their test and production phases, causing some concern this could lead to the triggering of potentially harmful side-effects.

The Dundee team, working with the drug safety research unit at Southampton, used new technology to develop a rapid-reporting system to speed up the process. They collected data from 3,754 people at the time they were vaccinated and a further 312 people who declined the offer of a jab.

They then encouraged them to provide follow-up reports on their health once a month for up to six months.

Dr Isla Mackenzie, from the university’s medicines monitoring unit, said: ”We asked people to let us know whether they had any serious health problems following being offered swine flu vaccination.

”We also followed up a group of pregnant women who were offered swine flu vaccination to check whether there were any problems with their pregnancies or their babies.”

No safety problems with swine flu vaccination emerged, which concurs with findings from the medicines and healthcare products’ regulatory agency.

The project’s report has just been published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Photo David Cheskin/PA Archive