Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., October 22, 2009 Cheshvan 4, 5770 | | Israel Time: 02:50 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Jewish World Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Focus U.S.A. Strenger than Fiction Business Travel Magazine Week's End Anglo File Books
Share |
H1N1 flu vaccine not suitable for pregnant woman, sick kids
By Dan Even

The Health Ministry has decided to hold off on giving the swine flu vaccine to pregnant women and chronically ill children because vaccine stocks now in Israel contain a substance whose safety and effectiveness in pregnant women has not been fully substantiated.

An estimated 80,000 women in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, along with chronically ill children between 6 months old and 3 years old, will be offered a swine flu vaccine in November that does not contain the additive. That vaccine is manufactured by the French drug company Sanofi Pasteur.
Advertisement

The questionable ingredient has been added to vaccines against both seasonal flu and swine flu and is being sold in Europe and Canada. In laboratory testing on rats in the United States, the presence of the ingredient reduced by 50 percent the amount of vaccine necessary to create an immunity reaction. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of the additive, the comparable European agency has done so.

Since the beginning of the week, about 250,000 doses of vaccine produced by the Swiss Novartis pharmaceutical company have arrived in Israel. They have been sent to a warehouse for inspection and preparation for nationwide use. An additional 100,000 vaccine doses with the additive, which are manufactured by Novartis and by the British firm GlaxoSmithKline, are expected to arrive by the end of the month.

A nationwide vaccination program against swine flu will begin in Israel within two weeks. Health care workers and chronically ill patients older than 3 will be the first to get vaccinated.

Thirty-two deaths in Israel have been attributed to swine flu.
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Hamas war crimes
International human rights group urges Hamas to probe attacks on Israeli civilians.
Fighting anti-Semitism
ADL slams two U.S. Republicans for calling Jews penny-pinchers.
Special Offers
Advertisement
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
Date Local Jewish Singles
Ready to meet your match? Join Jdate today!
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
More Headlines
23:09 American UN envoy to Israel: Relaunch Mideast talks now
18:48 Clinton: Iran must quickly implement uranium deal
19:49 'U.S. to stand by Israel in the fight against Goldstone report'
17:16 International rights group: Hamas must probe attacks on Israeli civilians
00:26 'London broker owed $20m to Israeli sports exec who killed himself'
15:32 ADL slams two U.S. Republicans for calling Jews penny-pinchers
23:10 Egypt airline: Hijacker tries to divert Cairo-bound plane to Jerusalem
00:11 TV ROUND-UP: Iran uranium deal presented; Barak fined for poor Knesset attendance
22:20 'If you want to save the planet, the planet doesn't need you'
12:22 How the Muslim world deals with the rise of Islamism
15:56 Bukharian Jews protect their culture in a N.Y. enclave
21:42 Interior Minister skips immigration debate attended by foreign workers' children
13:06 Deputy PM to Haaretz: Israel must probe Gaza war
21:43 Solana: EU has closer ties to Israel than potential member Croatia
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Advert: Recommended Restaurants | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved