Protection from swine flu Chancellor and minister are to receive special vaccine
Chancellor and minister are to be protected according to SPIEGEL
information with special vaccine before swine flu. Officials of
ministries and subordinate authorities as well. The vaccine contains no
controversial additives - unlike the vaccine for the rest of the
population.
Berlin - Until a few days ago hardly anyone outside
of specialist circles had heard the word adjuvant. But now a public
discussion about the composition of the vaccine has been inflamed for
the upcoming swine flu vaccination. In this case, the term repeatedly
appears, with which an additive for effective amplification is
designated.
Critics argue that adjuvants may lead to increased
vaccination reactions such as headache or fever. On the other hand,
supporters believe that vaccination is also safe with the additives -
and that more active substance doses could be produced in this way. A
few days ago, the Bundeswehr announced that it had ordered a vaccine for
its soldiers without additives.
But according to SPIEGEL
information, other groups of people are also to receive vaccination
without adjuvants: "We bought 200,000 doses of the non-adjuvanted
vaccine Celvapan from Baxter," admits Christoph Hübner, spokesman of the
Federal Ministry of the Interior. Unlike the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
preparation, which will be distributed to 50 million doses in the coming
week, the Baxter vaccine does not contain a potentiometer.
However, Celvapan only comes without the controversial excipients,
because it contains whole killed viruses and not virus fractions. The
substance is injected into the public servants responsible for the
maintenance of public order: members of the Cabinet as well as officials
of the ministries and subordinate authorities. These include the
employees of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which has been responsible for
vaccine licensing, and has repeatedly defended its decision to procure
the GSK vaccine to the population last week.
"Health authorities are invading pharmaceutical pharmacies"
This is a scandal for the chairman of the German Medicines Commission,
Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, who can hardly be mediated. "We are unhappy about
this vaccination campaign," Ludwig continues. She posed numerous
problems and her utility was uncertain: "The health authorities have
come up with a campaign by the pharmacists who simply wanted to make
money with a supposed threat."
Because the GSK vaccine has not
been tested on pregnant women, it also needs to be provided with a
short-term non-adjuvanted vaccine. The responsible Thuringian Ministry
of Health explained on Friday that negotiations are being negotiated
with a number of manufacturers about a limited purchase of vaccine
without the controversial excipients. Klaus Theo Schröder, State
Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, confirmed this to the
SPIEGEL: "There are currently talks with manufacturers as well as the
health ministries in France and the USA with the aim of procuring
non-adjuvanted vaccine for pregnant women."
Open rebellion
prevails among general practitioners and pediatricians. The president of
the German Society of General Medicine and Family Medicine, Michael
Koch, advises the German house doctors of the vaccination. "The damage
risk outweighs the benefits," says the Göttingen professor. Wolfram
Hartmann, President of the Professional Association of Children and
Adolescents, accuses the Federal Government of "scientific
misrepresentations". As with pregnant women, it is also true for
children under three years of age: "The vaccine is still not tested at
all, so the risk is simply too great to use it without hesitation."
Children had an immune system that was prone to overreaction, but that
could be triggered by the addition of potentiators. In addition, the
vaccine also contains a mercury-containing preservative. "The stuff has
been deliberately kept in today's vaccines for toddlers," said Hartmann.
chs / dpa / AP
