Experts on a health ministry panel agreed Friday that a single shot of vaccine for the new H1N1 strain of influenza is sufficient instead of two for those aged 13 and older, including pregnant women and patients with certain underlying illnesses.
The agreement came after an interim report on clinical tests of swine flu showed that a single shot of domestically produced vaccine worked perfectly well.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will reach a decision based on the panel’s recommendation. But if it does decide to reduce vaccinations to a single shot, more people will benefit from the vaccine.
“The domestic vaccines had strong results in immunizing healthy people with a single shot,” said Shigeru Omi, professor at Jichi Medical University who attended the meeting.
The clinical testing conducted on 200 healthy adults showed that 78.1 percent became immune to swine flu after they were given a vaccine shot, which is above international standards.
Those aged 12 and under and patients suffering from immunity deficiency, however, still need two shots of vaccine, according to the panel.
Meanwhile, the ministry on Thursday said a record total of 8,047 group infections involving swine flu were reported at schools, welfare and medical facilities in the week through last Sunday, the highest weekly figure since the health ministry started collecting comparable data in late July.
The figure marked a 1.5-fold increase from the previous week, when 5,432 group infections were reported, the ministry said, adding that deaths among the young have begun to increase.
The ministry is now urging people across the country, including local government officials and medical staff, to be on the alert for cases involving children and teens after four died of the H1N1 virus from Tuesday through Thursday.
The cases involved three children aged 4, 5 and 8, and a 16-year-old high school boy. The 4-year-old boy is the youngest victim so far in Japan since the first death linked to swine flu was reported in mid-August.
As of Thursday, 27 deaths have been reported, including seven victims under 20, according to the ministry.
Source:
Japan Times
