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Children only need one swine flu shot, WHO panel say
Oct 30, 2009, 13:54 GMT
Geneva/Vienna - World Health Organization advisors recommend that children get only one shot of swine flu vaccine, a WHO official said Friday in Geneva, reversing the organization's previous view that children should receive two doses.
The recommendation by the WHO's vaccine advisory group SAGE was based on the view that as many people as possible should be immunized, given the scarcity of vaccines in some countries, according to WHO official Marie-Paule Kieny.
The priority should be 'to give all of them or as many of them one dose, rather than to vaccinate only half of the same number of children with two doses,' Kieny told reporters in a conference call.
The WHO panel concluded this week that H1N1 pandemic shots for children from the age of 10 are safe.
For children between 6 months and 10 years, the experts said more studies were needed, but should countries decide that this age group should be immunized as a matter of priority, as many children as possible should get shots.
The vaccines are also safe for pregnant women, the group said.
The WHO is planning to donate 200 million immunization doses to developing countries, and Kieny said her organization had so far secured 156 million doses.
The UN health organization said the first 16 of these countries would receive shipments in late November or the first half of December.
The WHO has been recommending single vaccine shots for adults.
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