Health Minister Khaw assures Singaporeans of H1N1 vaccine safety
By Hoe Yeen Nie/Seet Sok Hwee, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 16 November 2009 1933 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Singapore Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan dispelled concerns over the safety of the H1N1 vaccine, as he got his flu jab at a neighbourhood clinic on Monday.

Concerns had been raised when two people in China died after being vaccinated. But Mr Khaw thinks it could be a coincidence, as one of them had a heart disease.

"As far as all of us are concerned, WHO (World Health Organisation) experts have all confirmed this is a very safe vaccine, so one should not be too worried about safety," Mr Khaw said.

The vaccines started arriving in October, and another batch of 50,000 doses from pharmaceutical firm CSL will arrive on Tuesday night.

Mr Khaw said there is enough to meet demand. His ministry is keeping track of numbers and will place more orders when necessary.

"Worldwide of course, there is always a shortage because the world population is so much bigger than what the factories can produce. But because we are a smaller country and we have made arrangements quite early on, we don't have that kind of problem," said Mr Khaw.

Currently, only adults can get the H1N1 flu jab. But the Health Sciences Authority is expected to give the go-ahead for those 18 years old and below by the end of this month.

The approval will come just in time for the peak travel period in December, when Mr Khaw expects cases of H1N1 here to go up as Singaporeans travel to flu-hit countries.

Mr Khaw noted that some countries have begun vaccinating young people. But he said that is because the onset of winter has led to a surge in cases, and governments decided to go ahead with the inoculations after weighing the costs and benefits, even though clinical data was still incomplete.

Mr Khaw said his ministry has been cautious in allowing the flu jab for those under 18 years of age, even though other countries have gone ahead with it in light of their winter season.

He asked the hospitals to be cautious too, following a recent incident where two cancer patients were given an overdose of chemotherapy drugs. The incident took place at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

Mr Khaw said it was more likely a case of human error, not worker fatigue. This is because the hospital uses two types of drug infusion pumps which look similar.

"This is very dangerous, because when you have two pieces of equipment, and one is millilitre per hour and millilitre per day, you are causing unnecessary risk to the users of this device," said Mr Khaw.

KKH said one of the patients, Mrs L K Ng, was discharged on Monday. She had been given three days' worth of chemotherapy in just three hours.

The other patient, Mrs Yip Poh Hung, who had suffered a potentially toxic overdose, is stable after being given an antidote. She was given five days' worth of drugs in five hours, and her case is more critical because the overdose could lead to organ damage.

- CNA/sc