The new H1N1 swine flu vaccine is being rejected by people across the world, even as governments continue to push for people to get vaccinated with assurances that the vaccine is safe.
Many people are simply not convinced about the safety of this H1N1 swine flu vaccine, which has been hurriedly produced and released before safety evaluations have been completed. Some of the safety studies have not even begun and the earliest study results are not due until end-2010, one year after the vaccine has been rolled out.
People are also sceptical about the way the World Health Organisation has declared the swine flu outbreak a pandemic - and the way governments are pushing for vaccination - even though all indications show that H1N1 flu is not as serious as the regular seasonal flu.
In addition, Internet access has given more people access to information about flu vaccine dangers even as governments and pharmaceutical companies try to play down vaccine side effects.
And so, in the two months since the H1N1 swine flu vaccine was introduced at end-September 2009, reports have come in from around the world that only a small percentage of people say they would be receiving the flu shots.
- In the United States, a poll by McClatchy-Ipsos show that just 52 percent of Americans say they're likely to get the swine flu vaccine - 33 percent say they're very likely while 19 percent say they're somewhat likely.
A more recent survey conducted by Washington Post / ABC News when the flu vaccine became availble in late September 2009 showed that 62 percent will not accept it.
- In the United Kingdom, more than half of Britons being offered vaccination against H1N1 flu are turning it down. Pulse, a trade newspaper for doctors, polled 107 doctors and found many saying there was widespread resistance from patients and on average only 46 per cent of those offered the vaccination agreed to have it.
Doctors reported particular difficulties in persuading pregnant women to be vaccinated against the virus, Said Dr Chris Udenze, a family doctor based in Nottingham, central England: “In all the pregnant women we've offered it to, I think only about one in 20 has agreed."
- In Germany, the government has ordered 50 million doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine and is offering it free to Germans. Yet only 10 percent of the vaccines have been taken up so far, and only 13 percent of Germans say they would get themselves vaccinated. This is despite the fact that Germans are generally open to flu vaccination and about 24 percent of Germans regularly vaccinate themselves against the seasonal flu.
Yet as recently as July 2009, 51 percent of Germans said they would get the flu shot. The dramatic fall off in willing recipients follows revelations that government officials, the German military, police and members of pandemic crisis committees will receive a non adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine, while the general public will only be offered the GlaxoSmithKline Pandemrix shot, which contains squalene and thimerosal as adjuvants.
- In Poland, Health Minister Eva Kopacz has rejected the swine flu vaccine for her country, saying she would not allow millions of Polish people to be given an untested vaccine. Minister Kopacz, who practised as a family doctor for 20 years before she became Health Minister, told the Polish Parliament on 5 November that as Health Minister, her first duty is to act in the best interest of the people, not in the interest of pharmaceutical companies.
Eva Kopacz also alluded to irregularities in the negotiations between pharmaceutical companies and governments, saying the Law Department has "20 points of doubts" regarding the proposed agreement for vaccine sales to the government.
- In Italy, Deputy Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio and the Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno have both personally decided against vaccination. And a recent survey showed that six out of 10 Italian family physicians do not prescribe the H1N1 vaccine for their patients, particularly those with heart diseases.
- In France, a September 2009 survey by the French National Union of Professionally Qualified Nurses show that 65 percent of all nurses will refuse the swine flu vaccine over safety concerns, Of the 4,107 nurses polled, only 26 percent said they will accept the H1N1 vaccine while a further 9 percent were still undecided.
The protests of nurses appeared to have influenced the French Health Minister, who said she might drop plans to give vaccines with adjuvants to pregnant women. As of 5 November, only 0.1 percent of French citizens had been vaccinated and the French Health Minister has described the vaccination campaign as "timid".
- In Hong Kong, research conducted by the University of Hong Kong and published in the British Medical Journal found that more than half of doctors and healthcare workers in public hospitals repeatedly say they will not get themselves vaccinated against the flu. Their stance did not change even when the WHO raised the flu pandemic alert level from 3 to 5, declaring a flu pandemic.
- In China, as in Germany, there has been a dramatic fall in the percentage of people willing to take the swine flu vaccine. A poll, conducted by China Daily and news website sohu.com found that only 30 percent of 2,000 respondents said they would definitely get the shot. Over 54 percent of the respondents rejected the vaccine outright.
The latest survey indicates a seismic shift in popular opinion from just two months ago, when 76 percent of people in China indicated that they would opt for inoculation. The primary reason given for the turnaround is a general worry over the quality and reliability of the vaccine.
- In Kuwait, despite the highest rate of H1N1 infection in the Middle East, the first batch of H1N1 swine flu vaccine is said to be "virtually untouched", with Kuwaitis reportedly influenced by Internet posts about the dangers of flu vaccination. Kuwait Times attributed the concerns to the health website mecola.com.
Kuwaitis are also worried that the flu shot would make them impotent. A Kuwaiti identified as Mohammad was quoted in Kuwait Times saying: "Yes, it is very alarming. I am afraid because I don't want to be impotent after taking the vaccine. I still want to be sexually active and make babies."
Adding to the worries, the Kuwaiti Social Affairs and Labour Minister Mohammad Al Affassi was hospitalised soon after he received the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. His colleague, Health Minister Helal Al Sayer denied any links with the flu shot, and said: "Dr Al Affassi was admitted into hospital for exhaustion from overwork and his condition has nothing to do with the swine flu vaccination." Al Affassi reportedly felt uneasy after he watched a football match in which a Kuwaiti team won the Asian Cup!
