Imagine this scenario repeated 10,000 times when all of those health
professionals and allied people in hospitals are required to take not
one, but seven vaccines for their job. This will be one of the costliest
exercises the government has ever undertaken because there won't be
enough money in the Federal Government's coffers to pay all of the
compensation claims and as you can see below, it isn't quite so easy to
deny the connection between the vaccination and the reaction when the
vacciness is old enough to talk.
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Flu shot went horribly wrong
* February 12, 2007 - 3:33PM
A flu vaccination went horribly wrong for a public servant who developed
a potentially fatal condition, a Senate estimates committee heard today.
A woman developed the nerve disease Guillain-Barre syndrome after
receiving a flu shot in 2005 through the federal department of
parliamentary services.
Three other people also fell ill but their cases have not been
conclusively linked to the Parliament House vaccination program.
Department of parliamentary services head Hilary Penfold said the woman
was still dealing with compensation claims for her treatment.
But she said she was aware of no other cases of potentially adverse
reactions to the vaccination, which is offered to all Parliament House
workers each winter.
Ms Penfold said she had asked the two parliamentary clerks and the
finance department if staff were complaining about any building-related
ill-health.
"And all three of them replied to me that they were aware of nothing
that suggested that there were any challenges to health that were
peculiar to this building," she said.
But Labor senator John Faulkner said it was a highly concerning case.
"I happen to believe that we've got a duty of care in relation to these
employees," Senator Faulkner said.
"This is a very serious matter that has occurred in relation to this
vaccination, that's just gone horribly wrong for up to at least four
individuals and possibly more."
AAP
http://www.theage.