TORONTO — Families in several provinces were expressing outrage and concern Tuesday after they said their children got double the recommended dose of the H1N1 vaccine from health officials of their government run health care system, but at least one medical expert said there’s little need for concern.
Parents in Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia have reported that their children received the amount in the adult dose instead of the pediatric dose of the swine flu shot.
It is interesting that while the shot is “rare” and “in demand” in the U.S., Canada seems to have no problem shooting up their kids with mercury.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has received reports of the wrong dose being given out to children but cannot provide exact figures, said spokeswoman Nadia Mostafa, who referred the question to provincial health ministries.
The agency’s guidelines call for adults to receive 0.5 ml in a single shot of the adjuvanted vaccine. The recommendation for children between six months of age to nine years is two half doses at least three weeks apart.
A stressed-out father in Delta, B.C., urged parents to check the dose themselves before their children get the shot. Jeevan Tauro said his three-year-old daughter and 17-month-old son were given the 0.5 ml dose at a Burnaby walk-in clinic Nov. 3.
In a telephone interview from his home Tuesday, Tauro said he asked the doctor if they should return to the clinic three weeks later to get the second half of the flu shot, but the doctor told him not to.
The doctor said there was only one shot and no subsequent vaccination, “so that raised my doubts (as to) what he had actually done,” said Tauro.
The receptionist told him his children had received the full adult dose, he said.
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