Japan sending mixed messages about vaccine safety

Four days after investigating the deaths of four Japanese children who died within days of receiving vaccines against pneumonia (Prevenar) and meningitis (ActHIB), the country’s heath ministry has said that it found no link between the children’s deaths and the vaccines. Yet it is continuing to suspend their use.

In addition to receiving Pfizer’s Prevenar and Sanofi Aventis SA’s ActHIB on the same day, two of the four children also received the DPT (diptheria-whooping cough-tetanus) vaccine, and one died a day after receiving Prevenar and the DPT shot. Meanwhile, health officials last year in the Netherlands also found no link between Prevenar and the deaths of three infants who received the vaccine. After hearing about the news in Japan, U.S. health officials have not found any basis for such safety concerns in the States.

“While the Japanese government has announced that it hasn’t found a link between the vaccines and the deaths, it is sending mixed signals by continuing to halt vaccination,” complained ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “Fearing negative publicity or blame is not a valid justification for acting so irresponsibly. Thousands or hundreds of thousands of children are now not getting these vaccines — how many of these children are going to die from these diseases? If the panel found no link, the ministry should not continue to suspend these vaccinations.”