BOARD Is the H1N1 vaccine safe?
SUPER [Dr. Michael Gardam
Director of Infection Disease Prevention and Control]
Dr. Michael Gardam: You know, we've been using vaccines for decades and in particular we've been using flu shots for decades. This vaccine is a new vaccine for Canada in that it actually has an adjuvant in it - which some people are worried about. However, vaccines - flu-vaccines with adjuvants - have been used for many, many years in Europe.
In fact two out of the four vaccines used in Europe right now have an adjuvant very similar to the one we're using here. And they've also been used on millions upon millions of people. So, we have the clinical trial data that's come from Europe and come from the US which has shown that these vaccines are safe.
But more importantly, we have ample experience using flu-shots over many years, some of which have contained adjuvant, in millions of people that have said that these vaccines are safe. I am personally not concerned at all about the safety of these vaccines.
BOARD [ontario.ca/flu]