GSK Pandemrix swine flu vaccine

The Patient Information Leaflet, and the notices on the MHRA website http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Safetyinformation/Swinefluinformation/index.htm were changed at the end of last week after reports that (too many) young children were experiencing fever after having the second shot of the two shot Pandemrix vaccine.

The advice now is that children between 6 months and 10 years should only get a single half dose of the vaccine (0.25ml). The one exception is that those in this group who have an impaired immune system get two half doses 3 weeks apart!

Babies under 6 months are not vaccinated, and children over 10 years and adults get a single full dose of 0.5ml, unless they have an impaired immune system when they get 2 such doses.

This logic follows the old rule for vaccines that if the immune system is sluggish and doesn’t produce enough antibodies the first time, you have to have a second go to get the count up otherwise the whole exercise would have been pointless since inadequate immunity would have been gained.

There is however another more commonsense approach, namely that if the body’s immune system is impaired it is unwise to gratuitously shoot additional toxins into it while it is in that state. Too obvious perhaps?

Pandemrix contains

Adjuvant: AS03 to stimulate a better response. This adjuvant contains squalene (10.69 milligrams), DL-a-tocopherol (11.86 milligrams) and polysorbate 80 (4.86 milligrams).

It also contains:
polysorbate 80 (Tween 80)
octoxynol 10
thimerosal (mercury)
sodium chloride
disodium hydrogen phosphate
potassium dihydrogen phosphate
potassium chloride
magnesium chloride
and maybe like most vaccines some things (contaminants) which are hard to detect?

Wikipedia and other sources reveal the following on some of the above ingredients: Polysorbate 80 is a suspected skin and sense organ toxin. Thimerosal is a recognised developmental toxin and a suspected immune, kidney, skin and sense organ toxin. Disodium hydrogen phosphate is an anticaking agent. Potassium dihydrogen phosphate is a soluble salt which is used as a fertilizer, a food additive and a fungicide. It is a source of phosphorus and potassium. Potassium chloride is used in medicine, scientific applications, food processing and in judicial execution through lethal injection. Octoxynol 10, a detergent, apparently typically contains traces of the toxins ethylene oxide, dioxane, C9 phenols, or glycol ether. Detergents and emulsifiers promote tumors and cause cells to leak or explode by weakening their walls, with no mechanism for regulating destructive activity. Detergents are used extensively in cell research precisely because of their ability to break cells open for further analysis.

Well, call me Mr Suspicious, but after that little roll call, I’d prefer an organic bacon sandwich.