Today, we got an e-mail from Läkemedelsverket in response to a letter we sent concerning how Baxter had contaminated its vaccines with live bird flu. The representative claimed that there was no need to question the safety of the products from Baxter since they had gotten information from BAXTER that the infected vaccines only had been meant to be used for laboratory control and research purposes.
This is the letter in full in Swedish:
Läkemedelsverket har mottagit ert brev angående information kring inträffad händelse med kontaminerat influensavaccin från Baxter.
Läkemedelsverket erhöll i februari i år information från såväl Baxter som EMEA angående den inträffade händelsen.
Det infekterade materialet endast var avsett för laborativ kontroll och forskningsändamål. Det var därför inte någon fara för patienter som erhåller företagets ordinarie läkemedel. Diskussioner har även förts med EMEA för att få kunskap i hur andra myndigheter inom EU har agerat i frågan.
Baserat på denna information anser Läkemedelverket att någon ytterligare åtgärd gentemot Baxter eller företagets partihandelstillstånd i Sverige för närvarande inte behöver vidtas.
På Läkemedelsverkets vägnar
Tor Gråberg
Tor Gråberg
Chefsinspektör, Enhetschef
Inspektionsenheten
Box 26, 751 03 Uppsala
Besöksadress: Dag Hammarskjöldsväg 42
Telefon: 018 - 17 26 24, växel: 018 - 17 46 00
English translation:
The Medical Products Agency (Läkemedelsverket) has received your letter regarding information surrounding the occurred event with contaminated influenza vaccines from Baxter.
In February of this year, The Medical Products Agency received information from Baxter as well as EMEA regarding the occurred incident.
The infected material was only meant to be used for laboratory control and research purposes. Hence, there was no danger to patients who obtain the company’s ordinary medical products. Discussions have also been carried out with EMEA in order to obtain knowledge about how other agencies in the EU have acted in this matter.
Based on this information, The Medical Products Agency deems that no further measure against Baxter or the company’s wholesale trade license in Sweden is necessary for the time being.
On behalf of The Medical Products Agency,
Tor Gråberg
Tor Gråberg
Chief Inspector, Branch head
Inspection Branch
Box 26, 751 03 Uppsala
Visiting address: Dag Hammarsköldsväg 42
Telephone: 018 - 17 26 24, switchboard: 018 - 17 46 00
And if you trust that the EMEA have thoroughly examined Baxter, you should read this article from The Guardian. "The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the drug regulatory body for the EU, is accelerating the approval process for the vaccine, and countries including Britain, Greece, France and Sweden plan to start using it as soon as it is cleared. The most vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and young children, will be given priority." So without proper testing, the EMA is going ahead and vaccinating those most vulnerable. They seem a lot more interested in getting the vaccine out on the market as soon as possible than to investigate Baxter's fishy past.
Baxter has enough of the H1N1 A vaccine to distribute to the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand.
We know too little about the safety of Baxter's vaccines and too much about Baxter's history to go ahead and vaccinate children and infants.
It also seems like Sweden has lowered its vaccine standards when it comes to the H1N1 vaccine.
In the end of this article from Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, a "vaccine expert" answers 4 questions regarding the Swine Flu vaccine. The vaccine has not been approved to be given to children under the age of 18, so on the question if it will be tested before given to children his answer is that they will perform a few tests, but that they won't know the results until afterwards. And on the question of if all children will be vaccinated his answer is that all children will be vaccinated down to those of two months of age.
This is the letter in full in Swedish:
Läkemedelsverket har mottagit ert brev angående information kring inträffad händelse med kontaminerat influensavaccin från Baxter.
Läkemedelsverket erhöll i februari i år information från såväl Baxter som EMEA angående den inträffade händelsen.
Det infekterade materialet endast var avsett för laborativ kontroll och forskningsändamål. Det var därför inte någon fara för patienter som erhåller företagets ordinarie läkemedel. Diskussioner har även förts med EMEA för att få kunskap i hur andra myndigheter inom EU har agerat i frågan.
Baserat på denna information anser Läkemedelverket att någon ytterligare åtgärd gentemot Baxter eller företagets partihandelstillstånd i Sverige för närvarande inte behöver vidtas.
På Läkemedelsverkets vägnar
Tor Gråberg
Tor Gråberg
Chefsinspektör, Enhetschef
Inspektionsenheten
Box 26, 751 03 Uppsala
Besöksadress: Dag Hammarskjöldsväg 42
Telefon: 018 - 17 26 24, växel: 018 - 17 46 00
English translation:
The Medical Products Agency (Läkemedelsverket) has received your letter regarding information surrounding the occurred event with contaminated influenza vaccines from Baxter.
In February of this year, The Medical Products Agency received information from Baxter as well as EMEA regarding the occurred incident.
The infected material was only meant to be used for laboratory control and research purposes. Hence, there was no danger to patients who obtain the company’s ordinary medical products. Discussions have also been carried out with EMEA in order to obtain knowledge about how other agencies in the EU have acted in this matter.
Based on this information, The Medical Products Agency deems that no further measure against Baxter or the company’s wholesale trade license in Sweden is necessary for the time being.
On behalf of The Medical Products Agency,
Tor Gråberg
Tor Gråberg
Chief Inspector, Branch head
Inspection Branch
Box 26, 751 03 Uppsala
Visiting address: Dag Hammarsköldsväg 42
Telephone: 018 - 17 26 24, switchboard: 018 - 17 46 00
And if you trust that the EMEA have thoroughly examined Baxter, you should read this article from The Guardian. "The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the drug regulatory body for the EU, is accelerating the approval process for the vaccine, and countries including Britain, Greece, France and Sweden plan to start using it as soon as it is cleared. The most vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and young children, will be given priority." So without proper testing, the EMA is going ahead and vaccinating those most vulnerable. They seem a lot more interested in getting the vaccine out on the market as soon as possible than to investigate Baxter's fishy past.
Baxter has enough of the H1N1 A vaccine to distribute to the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand.
We know too little about the safety of Baxter's vaccines and too much about Baxter's history to go ahead and vaccinate children and infants.
It also seems like Sweden has lowered its vaccine standards when it comes to the H1N1 vaccine.
Normally, Sweden doesn't allow mercury in its vaccines, but according to this Swedish news article from Göteborgsposten, the vaccines that Sweden have ordered from GlaxoSmithKline WILL contain mercury. So we are going to vaccinate children and pregnant women first with vaccines that have not been properly tested and that also contain mercury, which we all know is really bad for anyone, especially children and foetuses (even in low doses).
In the end of this article from Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, a "vaccine expert" answers 4 questions regarding the Swine Flu vaccine. The vaccine has not been approved to be given to children under the age of 18, so on the question if it will be tested before given to children his answer is that they will perform a few tests, but that they won't know the results until afterwards. And on the question of if all children will be vaccinated his answer is that all children will be vaccinated down to those of two months of age.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment