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Doctors refuse to take imported H1N1 vaccine

The directorate of health services (DHS) has failed to convince the state’s doctors and paramedics to take the injectable H1N1 vaccine imported from a French pharma company.

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The directorate of health services (DHS) has failed to convince the state’s doctors and paramedics to take the injectable H1N1 vaccine imported from a French pharma company. In a review meeting last week, the health authorities refused to take the free of cost injectable vaccine as they are worried about its side effects.

They have, on the contrary, decided to use the H1N1 nasal spray that will be available in the open market soon.

The state government had procured 34,300 doses of the imported vaccine in March, and is now mulling over what needs to be done with the unused doses. The vaccine, which arrived after the H1N1 scare subsided, has failed to please the doctors who are aware of its side effects.

“The general responses were that the injectable vaccine had been tried on foreign population and it may generate plenty of side effects on Indians,” said a senior health officer, who was a part of the review meeting. “The doctors and paramedics are keen to take the nasal spray, which is non-invasive and would have minimal or almost no side effects. They don’t mind shelling out money from their own pockets for the spray.”

In Mumbai, only 50 out of the 800 people from the medical fraternity, who deal with H1N1 patients on a daily basis, have been inoculated. In rest of the state, about 450 doctors and paramedics have been given the vaccine, majority of who are from Pune, which has seen the maximum H1N1 deaths. “Barely 500 doses of the imported vaccine have been administered across the state,” said state public health minister Suresh Shetty.

However, even as vaccinated doctors have complained of nausea, dizziness and mild fever, the authorities from the health department claim to have not found any toxic effects of the imported vaccine. According to officials, the vaccine does have some side effects, but only if they persist for more than three days can they be termed as toxic effects.

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