KHON2 | Health officials are recalling thousands of doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine for children after tests show they may not be strong enough to protect against the virus.The recall is not over safety of the vaccine but dozens of pediatricians in all counties except Kauai will have to make exchanges of what's left.
Manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur recalled 800,000 infant and toddler H1N1 vaccine doses, including 5,000 or fewer in Hawaii.
"It's an issue of strength of the vaccine, not the risk or safety issues around the vaccine at all,” said Dr. Sarah Park of the state Department of Health.
Many pediatricians’ offices will have to be making exchanges, including 29 offices on Oahu, 17 on the Big Island and one in Maui County.
Kapiolani Medical Center and Kaiser did not have any recalled does.
"There's really no risk to an infant receiving this recalled lot of vaccine. The manufacturer discovered the potency of certain lots was a bit on the low side,” said Dr. Philip Bruno, a infectious disease specialist at Kaiser.
The antigen -- or the product in the vaccine that makes the body produce an immune response -- is under the manufacturer's normal standard.
Maker Sanofi Pasteur said, "The U.S. FDA and the U.S. CDC have evaluated the data and are confident that the health of children immunized with this product has not been compromised. Moreover, persons immunized with these lots do not need re-immunization."
“It's still high enough that they believe that there would still be an immune response to the vaccine,” said Dr. Park.
Children under 10 will still need their second dose in the two-course regimen four weeks from the first shot.
"Just make sure that your child gets the second dose and it should be fine,” said Dr. Park.
Experts say despite some recent road blocks, people should not be discouraged from getting the swine flu vaccine.
"This is just a small hiccup in the manufacturing process. It was quickly picked up by the manufacturer. I don't see this as a major problem,” said Dr. Phillip.
"We don't ever want to be at a second wave in Hawaii and the only way to guarantee that really is to get as many people vaccinated who want to be vaccinated,” said Dr. Park.
The state says doctors should be contacting affected patients.
Doctors should keep an eye out for these lot numbers:
UT023DA
UT028DA
UT028CB
UT030CA
