Vaccine manufacturer Adimmune Corp yesterday said that there were no problems with the quality of the eggs used to produce its A(H1N1) vaccine amid suspicions that contaminated eggs may have been responsible for severe side effects suffered by some who received the vaccine.
Adimmune president Ignatius Wei (魏逸之) said the eggs were supplied by two chicken farms that met specifications. The farms were inspected twice by the Department of Health’s (DOH) Bureau of Food and Drug Analysis and passed inspection on both occasions, he said.
The eggs produced by the farms passed all nine required tests, including salmonella levels, avian flu infection and antibiotic residues, Wei said.
He said that before the immunization program was launched, about 30 people had died from the swine flu strain, but the fatalities had since dropped significantly thanks to the vaccine.
Wei said the company had produced more than 40 batches of vaccine, each using 130,000 eggs, adding that the number of cases of side effects would have been higher if there had been problems with the eggs or packaging.
DOH statistics showed that since the start of the immunization program last month, 424 of the 4.81 million people who have been vaccinated have developed serious side effects.
This included a seven-year-old boy who died on Monday after being vaccinated last month.
With doubts about the safety of the vaccine mounting, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) asked the DOH yesterday to make public the origin of the eggs used to produce the vaccine and the results of the tests on the eggs.
However, head of the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs, Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲), said that before doing so, the department would need to determine whether it could legally make the information public, as the egg farms are under the supervision of the Council of Agriculture, not the DOH.
Meanwhile, Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said yesterday that the department would consider making survey forms available to people who have received the H1N1 flu vaccine as a means of tracking side effects or any other problems.
Yaung told the legislature that the agency would ask people who have been vaccinated to provide information that would give health authorities a better understanding of the problems related to the immunization program.
Yaung made the suggestion in response to DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying’s (黃淑英) criticism of DOH officials’ “bad attitude” in immediately denying that symptoms, side effects and even a death had anything to do with the H1N1 vaccination.”
Yaung said the DOH would set up a special task force of experts from the medical and legal fields to address controversies related to inoculation complaints.
In related news, Centers for Disease Control Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said yesterday that pregnant women should consult their obstetricians before receiving the vaccine.
He made the statement after four cases involving pregnant women were reported. Two of the women had stillbirths and two had miscarriages after receiving the vaccine.
At a separate setting, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) requested that the DOH raise public confidence in the vaccine’s safety to reduce the possibility that people would either choose not to receive, or delay getting, the H1N1 vaccine, which could lead to spread of the flu.
“The transmission of the flu has slowed recently, as shown by a decline in several indicators, but we should not lower our guard against a possible outbreak,” Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) quoted Wu as saying at the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG AND SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS