U.S. government will track side effects of swine flu vaccine

In the coming months, if you receive a swine flu vaccination and then experience a health event, such as a heart attack, stroke, fainting, respiratory distress or other similar malady, you might wonder if was related to the vaccine. Well, the U.S. government has decided to carefully track all reported potential side effects/health events that directly follow the immunization process, according to an Associated Press report. The goal is to quickly identify any rare, unusual, or "cluster" events and to explain coincidences that can cause false alarms and public uneasiness. Many of these health events would have happened with or without the swine flu shot, health experts say, especially when you are vaccinating so many people. Because this vaccination is new, there is uncertainty about its safety and side effects, so early monitoring is a good move. The monitoring includes three special programs: At Harvard Medical School, researchers will link large insurance databases that cover up to 50 million people with vaccination registries across the U.S., checking in real time to see whether vaccine recipients see a doctor in the weeks after a flu shot and why. They'll compare rates of complaints among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, said the project leader, Dr. Richard Platt, Harvard's population medicine chief. Johns Hopkins will send e-mails to at least 100,000 vaccine recipients to track how they're feeling, and register any complaints that might not trigger a doctor visit. If anything seems connected, researchers can call to follow up with detailed questions. And he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to give recipientstake-home cards that tell them how to report any suspected side effects to theU.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting system. These measures should help identify any adverse effect that is appearing in greater numbers than expected. In the end, however, those that receive the vaccine early are "guinea pigs" for research. Let's hope the benefit outweighs the risk because we know mass vaccinations will ultimately save lives and save serious health consequences.