Ministry official defends decision to order swine flu vaccine

Kari Välimäki

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The suspicion that was raised recently that a surge in cases of narcolepsy among children and young people may be linked with the vaccine that was administered last winter against the H1N1, or swine flu virus, has caused many to ask who was behind the decision to acquire the vaccine.
      The decision was made by Kari Välimäki, chief of staff at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
     
This took place already in May last year, when Välimäki signed a document for the National Emergency Supply Agency. He did this after hearing the views of both Finnish and foreign experts, after which deliveries of more than five million doses of swine flu vaccine began.
      The vaccine was ordered from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which was the easiest available source at a time when the epidemic was rapidly approaching Finland, and there was a need to start the vaccines as soon as possible.
      Välimäki feels that the decision was the right one. He says that it made it possible to start vaccinating people in risk groups at an early stage, when the first wave of the disease was approaching.
     
The choice of the GSK vaccine was dictated by statements and expertise from the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
      There have later been claims that THL would have had a conflict of interest, as it had received financing worth EUR 6 million from GSK for its pneumococcus research. Two complaints were filed on the matter to the Chancellor of Justice in late 2009. Both complaints were made by private individuals.
     
The World Health Organisation (WHO) examined the link between THL and GlaxoSmithKline and found no evidence that research funding from the pharmaceutical company would have influenced the choice of vaccines.
      Chancellor of Justice Jaakko Jonkka says that his office is still handling the matter. Reports have been received from THL and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. “On the basis of the reports that have been received, there are no concrete indications of the claimed bribery”, Jonkka says.
      He also notes that the complaints, which came last year, did not have anything to do with the recent cases of narcolepsy.
     
On Tuesday, THL recommended that the use of the GSK Pandemrix swine flu vaccine be suspended until all of the possible connections between the vaccine and narcolepsy are cleared up.
      The investigation is to be conducted by THL, and Välimäki insists that its objectivity is reliable in this case as well.
      If it comes out that the vaccine has led to narcolepsy, the instructions for its use will be re-examined. “However, there is no doubt that in a similar situation, the same decisions would have been made”, Välimäki says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  H1N1 vaccinations suspended over narcolepsy scare (25.8.2010)
  Finland still has millions of doses of swine flu vaccine (16.8.2010)
  Swine flu shots found to cause mild symptoms of disease (22.10.2009)

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