Flu vaccine protesters get help from ministry
- Source: Global Times
- [01:09 July 14 2010]
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By Huang Jingjing
About a dozen parents whose children are struggling to survive after different vaccinations including the one against A(H1N1) protested outside the Ministry of Health Tuesday, holding banners and shouting, "We want to see the minister!"
The parents said their family life is miserable after their children became ill.
One of the parents is Wang Jian, 42, from Jiangxi Province, who has been in despair after his 10-year-old son received the A(H1N1) flu vaccine in January.
His son has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, or "preleukemia," and is waiting for a bone marrow transplant in Beijing. Wang believes the A(H1N1) flu vaccine caused the disease.
"A physical exam in October showed there was nothing wrong with my son. But after he took the vaccine on January 15, something went wrong in his body," the father told the Global Times Tuesday.
Over the next three months, he said, doctors treated his son's illness as "faucitis," the medi-cal term for a sore throat. A blood test in April showed that the boy's platelets dropped to 20,000, far lower than normal level of 100,000 to 300,000.
The father had turned to health authorities at different levels for an explanation and was told that the disease was not related to the vaccine.
"I understand that the vaccine can't be 100 percent safe. But I hoped they would make efforts to treat people who suffer rare side effects," he said.
Cui Xiaobo, a professor at Capital Medical University, told the Global Times Tuesday that the vaccine does not cause a reduction of blood platelets.
The eight-year-old son of Li Baoxiang, 33, from Shandong Province, felt fatigue and fever after receiving the A (H1N1) vaccine on March 16. Li said the local health authority told him that the symptoms were normal, but his son lost consciousness several days later.
Deng Haihua, the ministry spokesman, said the petitioners' grievances would be heard.
"We have a special department to receive them, and our staff will help to solve their problems," Deng said at a press conference Tuesday.
As of May, 100 million people had received the flu vaccine and the percentage of suspected abnormal reactions stood at 12 cases per 100,000 people, with no deaths reported.
