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Following the press statement issued last week by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) on its decision to suspend two childhood vaccines pending investigation for their association with the deaths of four Japanese children, a spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) confirmed today （March 9) that DH has already begun contacting its Japanese counterpart and the two manufacturers involved in order to seek official details regarding the matter.
The two vaccines in question are Pfizer's Prevenar and Sanofi-Aventis' Act-HIB for protection against pneumococcal disease and Haemophilus influenzae meningitis respectively.
Yesterday, an expert panel convened by Japan's MHLW found no evidence of a causal relationship between the deaths and the two vaccines, but did call for further studies.
In Hong Kong, Pfizer has registered two pneumococcal vaccines under the brand names of Prevenar, which targets seven serotypes, and Prevenar 13, which targets up to 13 serotypes.
Prevenar has been used by public and private healthcare providers here, DH included, since the launch of the pneumococcal vaccination programme in 2009. However, except for the one-off Pneumonococcal Vaccination Catch-Up Programme still ongoing until the end of this month in DH's maternal and child health centres, the Department has replaced Prevenar with GlaxoSmithKline Ltd's Synflorix since October 2010 because of the outcome of the tender.
Sanofi-Aventis' Act-HIB vaccine is also registered in Hong Kong but is not a component of Hong Kong's childhood immunisation programme.
DH has no record of any untoward adverse event causally related to Prevenar and Act-HIB. A coroner's autopsy in January 2010 of a four-month-old boy who had a history of vaccinations of Diphtheria, Tetanus, acellular Pertussis and Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine (DTaP-IPV Vaccine) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine found evidence of respiratory tract infection but the cause of death could not be ascertained. The press release on this case was published by the DH at www.chp.gov.hk/en/content/116/20015.html .
The spokesman said that the Department's pharmacovigilance system has not found similar reports in other jurisdictions, although most remarked that they are also monitoring the development.
"Taking all available facts into account, DH reckons that the local situation should remain status quo although its alertness is definitely heightened. If at any time healthcare workers are suspicious, they should notify the Department. Recipients of the vaccines should contact their healthcare providers if they have doubts or do not feel well," the spokesman added.
Ends/Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:43
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