HONG KONG: The government once again has moved to allay fears and adverse public reaction to flu vaccines after the fetus of a 37-year-old expectant mother was reported stillborn Tuesday, a few weeks after the woman received an anti-flu shot.

The government once again ensured the safety of the vaccines, saying there is no clear evidence linking the death of the fetus to the injection of the mother with flu vaccine.

"If the vaccination is that dangerous, I think many countries would have already stopped the vaccination program. Yet in fact, no country has ever stopped," Thomas Tsang Ho-fa, Centre for Health Protection controller, said. "For the high-risk groups, the risk of not getting the vaccine is much greater than for those who receive a vaccine.

"The risk of pregnant women getting a severe disease after being infected with human swine flu is 10 times higher than that of other people," said Tsang.

About 1,132 pregnant women have received the vaccine since the program got underway. The only case of intrauterine death was the one recorded Tuesday. The mother is reported in stable condition in Tuen Mun Hospital.

Tsang noted that among pregnancies in general there is 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent chance of intrauterine death. He said the one intrauterine death among 1,132 pregnant women who received the vaccine amounts to 0.1 percent, and the percentage is well below the baseline death rate in the population at large. He said medical authorities will study the case within one to four weeks. He urged pregnant women to get their vaccinations.

In issuing the latest reassurance Tsang renewed the call for those in the designated high-risk groups for human swine flu to get the vaccination. He supported the call with statistics noting that among severe cases of human swine flu cases, 72.2 percent belong to the target groups: children under six; elderly people over 65 and people suffering chronic illnesses.

Since December 21, 2009 when the vaccination program commenced, 34 cases of severe human swine flu have been reported. Seven of the patients died.

"If they had received the swine flu shot, at least some of those serious cases could have been prevented," said Tsang.

Currently about 1,500 people are getting the vaccine every day, adding to the total of 145,000 people having received the vaccine since the program started.

(HK Edition 01/23/2010 page1)