What Is In The Swine H1N1 Flu Vaccine: A Primer

By Elaina George, MD

There has been a lot of confusion about what ingredients are in the H1N1 Vaccine. In order to distill the information to make it easier for you to make an informed choice, here is a brief synopsis of the information provided by the manufacturers in their package inserts.

There are 4 manufactures who have been approved to sell H1N1 vaccine in the US. They are: Novartis, CSL, Sanofi/Pasteur and MedImmune

1. Novartis makes an injectable vaccine for ages 4 and above
Ingredients: Thimerosal (Mercury) both in the single dose and the multi dose vials
Antibiotics - polymyxin and neomycin (can be neurotoxic)

Manufactured with phenol (the chemical used on skin in cosmetic face peals to remove wrinkles)

Note: They recommend that children ages 4-9 get 2 injections one month apart. This would increase the risk from a reaction to the mercury (e.g, neurological damage such as Gullain-Barre or possibly Autism)

2. CSL makes an injectable vaccine. Only the multi dose vial contains thimerosal

3. Sanofi/Pasteur - Only the multi dose vial contains thimerosal

vaccine is made with polyethelene glycol (antifreeze) and formaldehyde (a chemical used in embalming).

*These three vaccines are grown in chicken embryo cells. So if a person has severe allergies to eggs, they are at risk of having an allergic reaction and should therefore not take the vaccine.

4. MedImmune makes a live attenuated H1N1 vaccine that has an intranasal delivery.

It does not contain thimerosal, but has the food additive MSG (monosodium glutamate) which can cause reactions in some people who are sensitive, it also contains gentamycin (an antibiotic which can be neurotoxic and cause hearing loss)

As per the package inserts from all of the manufacturers:

Note: "Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
Neither FLUVIRIN nor the Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine have been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility."

*In other words, NONE of the H1NI vaccines have been evaluated for the possible potential to cause cancer, birth defects or its effect on fertility. This is according to the information from all of the manufacturers.

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