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22. 01. 10. - 16:00

Agency says Austrians should get swine flu vaccine double dose

European health experts have said Austrians should be given an extra dose of swine flu vaccine.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) recommended yesterday (Thurs) that people receive two doses of Baxter’s Celvapan swine flu vaccine – the vaccine used in Austria - rather than just one it carried out an examination of the drug.

But the agency warned that its recommendation was not final and it would ask Baxter for more analyses of immune-system reaction to its vaccine.

EMEA also said a decision on use of GlaxoSmithKline’s Arepanrix vaccine against swine flu would depend on the results of clinical tests expected to be concluded by March.

Meanwhile, the number of new swine flu cases in Austria has been falling, according to the Health Ministry.

Ministry officials said on Wednesday that a downward trend in new cases had been confirmed.

It added that there had been 16,000 new cases in the week from 11 to 17 January, 21 of which had required hospitalisation.

The number of cases rose to 10,400 in Vienna from 11 to 17 January, up from 8,200 the previous week and bucking the overall downward trend in Austria, the ministry said, whereas the number of cases in Graz dropped by 1,608 during that week.

The ministry added that 1,990 Austrians had been vaccinated against swine flu between 11 and 17 January.

The ministry had earlier reported that a 26-year-old Burgenland woman and a 57-year-old Carinthian man hospitalised at Vienna general hospital (AKH) had died of swine flu on 11 and 12 January, respectively.

Social Democratic (SPÖ) Health Minister Alois Stöger praised the handling of the swine flu pandemic earlier this month, adding there had been 300,000 vaccinations against swine flu and the government was prepared to deal with a second wave of the illness if necessary.

But he warned it was "too early" to say the swine flu threat had receded.

Austrian Times

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