WHO: Confusion on flu vaccines

Today at the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome there was a meeting, the WHO Global Forum on Mass Gatherings. According to Adnkronos press agency, Hande Harmanci, of the WHO Global Influenza Programme, has said that there's a lot of confusion about the flu vaccine. "There is a lot of confusion in the world on the pandemic vaccines" said Dr. Harmanci "for this reason one should remember that they aren't new: the seasonal influenza vaccines have been on the market for 60 years, and what is new in this case is only the subtype in the vaccine, only one, instead of the usual three in the seasonal vaccines." According to Dr Harmanci licensed pandemic vaccines are safe and a single dose is sufficient to confer protective immunity. The Italian Deputy Minister of Health, Ferruccio Fazio, has said at the same meeting that in Italy there's been only one case of side effects, a woman who developed a local reactions at the injection site. In Italy the safety of the swine flu vaccine hasn't been disputed, but there's a lot of confusion about H1N1 influenza. Today the Cotugno Hospital of Naples said that a 56 years old, suffering of chronic diseases, infected with the virus, died (report of Corriere della Sera). It's the fifth death in Italy because of the swine flu. I think that it seems a lot because nobody remember all the seasonal flu victims (and cases of side effects of vaccines).