H1N1 Vaccine Revolt?
Almost a third of nurses will refuse the offer of immunisation against swine flu because they have fears about the vaccine’s safety, according to a new survey.
The initial response from frontline health staff, one of the government’s priority groups for vaccination this autumn, was dismissed by the Department of Health, however, as irresponsible and ill-informed.
The apparent reluctance to be among the first to receive the new vaccine emerged in a survey of 1,500 nurses carried out by the weekly Nursing Times. Overall, 30% of respondents to the magazine’s online questionnaire replied ‘no’ when asked if they would seek to be immunised when the vaccine became available; only 37% said ‘yes’, while a further 33% remained answered ‘maybe’.
The opinion poll, released less than a week after the health department revealed its timetable for immunisation, appears to reflect anxieties about receiving a vaccine not yet licensed for public use. That approval is expected to be given by the European Medicines Agency by the end of September or early October.
Filed under: H1N1, Swine Flu, Vaccines
H1N1 or Swine Flu is a bit scary but it a good thing to note that this virus is not that very deadly.