A physician whose seven-year-old son died 32 days after receiving an H1N1 flu vaccine said yesterday that he intends to sue the Department of Health (DOH).
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said yesterday that the CDC respects the Taichung County doctor’s decision but the Department of Health had no plan to change the nationwide influenza H1NI immunization program.
“It is still safer for you to get the shot,” Kuo said. “There is also no evidence at present to link the boy’s death to the vaccine.”
Kuo said the boy’s father called the 1922 H1N1 vaccination consultation hotline on Dec. 2 after his son developed a high fever and a skin rash. The boy had received an H1N1 shot on Nov. 19.
Kuo said Deputy Department of Health Minister Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) and CDC experts immediately held an emergency telephone conference with the child’s father to offer help, but the boy died on Monday.
“We are all sorry we were unable to help,” Kuo said.
After preliminary discussions, the experts concluded that the boy’s death was unrelated to the vaccination, Kuo said, adding that an immune system problem was a possible cause of death.
“The boy’s parents are welcome to request an investigation into the case to allow experts to make a more comprehensive, independent judgment,” Kuo said.
An inoculation program for people considered at high risk of contracting swine flu began on Nov. 1 and the nationwide immunization program began on Dec. 12 at 2,584 clinics and hospitals and 354 DOH vaccination stations.
Problems and side effects that have been reported so far from the vaccine include deaths among elderly recipients and dizziness among students. These have dissuaded some from getting vaccinated.
Health officials said the reports of dizziness caused some parents, to withdraw their permission for their children to receive the shots.
“A total of 331 cases of side effects from the vaccines has been reported, but all the symptoms were temporary,” Kuo said. “These cases will not affect our vaccination policy.”
The total number of hospitalized H1N1 patients in Taiwan since the outbreak began reached 817 yesterday, Kuo said.
Thirty-five people in Taiwan have died from the disease.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do