Untested swine flu vaccine administered to Bristol children

The Bristol Children’s Vaccine Centre is looking for guinea pig children to test out swine flu vaccines.

Parents in Bristol are receiving letters inviting children to take part in the study.

A total of 1000 children are needed to take part with ages ranging from just tiny six month old babies to 12 year old children.

Children are being recruited in Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and South London.

For parents, their child’s participation is strictly voluntary.

Once a child has two or three doses of a vaccine, parents will have to note down any adverse reactions their child may have.

Both vaccines in the study have been adapted from vaccines to protect against bird flu.

The Baxter vaccine has been tested on adults, but so far has not been tested on children under the age of 18 years. Side effects in young children due to having this vaccination are totally unknown.

The second vaccine to be tested on Bristol children, is the GSK vaccine.

The GSK vaccine Pandemrix has already been tested on 300 children aged 3 – 9 years of age but the vaccine is currently causing controversy in Germany. Dr Wolfram Hartmann, president of the German association of paediatricians voiced concerns about the recommendation of Pandemrix for use on young children.

Expected side effects that children may suffer as a result of these vaccinations are:

Fever over 37.5 °C

Tenderness, redness, bruising, swelling, hardness or warmth at the injection site

Risk of possible allergic reaction

Change in eating habits

Sleepiness

Persistent crying,

Irritability,

Swelling of lymph nodes

Muscle pain or joint pain

Rarer reactions seen in adults receiving the H5N1 vaccines include:

Vomiting

Diarrhoea

Rash

Cough and a congested nose

Seizures

Temporary bleeding disorders

A link between rare nerve disorder Guillian-Barré syndrome which plagued the disastrous US swine flu vaccination programme in the 1970s has not been ruled out.