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  • Health: Health monopolizes flu vaccines

While in Singapore and South Korea,

the flu vaccination has

been paralyzed

due to the doubts

that have caused the death this weekend of more than forty people, according to the South Korean authorities, in Spain everything remains the same.

In Health there is no alert about any of the options to immunize against the flu.

Raúl Ortiz de Lejarazu, virologist and former director of the National Influenza Center, stresses that "this is one of the oldest and most effective vaccines.

experience with it is enormous, with

global campaigns delivering over 1.3 billion doses

"Of the two options that have been paralyzed in Asian countries, in a precautionary way,

Sanofi

is responsible for one of them, and from the company they discard the association between deaths and the vaccine.

"The Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and the vaccine committee

have reviewed the results of the investigations and have not confirmed any causal relationship between the cases of death and vaccination

.

South Korea has decided to continue with the vaccination campaign and the different vaccines provided for in the program continue to be used, "explains the French laboratory in a statement. In this sense, Amos García Rojas, president of the Spanish Association of Vaccination in Spain ( AEV), highlights that

"The only ones who can issue an alert about the use of a vaccine are regulatory agents

, in Spain the Aemps (Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products) and in Europe the EMA (European Medicines Agency).

But, it has been shown that its use is safe. "This year its use becomes essential because" it is necessary to avoid overlapping the two respiratory viral infections, covid and

flu

". None of the agencies mentioned has collected any alteration in influenza vaccines. Given the doubts that may arise, Ortiz de Lejarazu puts on the table the examples of the United States and the United Kingdom in the use of the influenza vaccine:" In these countries there is questioning immunization against chicken pox, rubella, but

vaccination against the seasonal virus does not admit of debate

and the population uses it to prevent infection and associated diseases. "No agency, except in South Korea and Singapore, has so far registered any adverse effects related to immunization against influenza. An action that this year, in full pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, it becomes more important than ever. Thus, from Sanofi they assure that the laboratory "

has not identified any quality or safety problems in the influenza vaccines distributed to the northern hemisphere for the 2020 campaign

and remains committed to working closely with national health authorities in all countries where our vaccines are distributed. "Along with this, in response to reports from South Korea,"

Singapore's Ministry of Health has informed Sanofi Singapore of its decision to temporarily suspend the use of two flu vaccines

, one of them from Sanofi Pasteur.

This decision has been taken despite there having been no known cases during the influenza vaccination campaign in Singapore, "the French company explains, adding that" Sanofi is in contact with the Ministry of Health of this country to resume use. of the flu vaccine as soon as possible. "In Spain, Sanofi is one of the main companies behind the bulk of the flu doses. Although it is not the only one. Seqirus is the other laboratory that signed the centralized purchase agreement for flu shots with the

Ministry of Health

, published in the BOE on August 3,

to get the extra boost of nearly five million doses

.

In addition, in our country there are also options from other laboratories such as GSK and Mylan, which would be available in pharmacies.

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