If you have a life-threatening egg allergy – and react to even minute traces – the swine flu vaccine may not be for you.

Dr David Butler-Jones, Canada’s chief medical officer, says that if you have egg allergies, get vaccinated under the supervision of your allergist. In some cases, allergists may be able to help a patient better tolerate a vaccine, depending on the severity of the allergy, using desensitization techniques. In other cases, you may not be able to receive it at all.

At issue is that the vaccine is “grown” in eggs: while the virus is then separated from the egg for the vaccine itself, some trace amounts will remain.

This is why it is recommended that people with egg allergies get the vaccine at an allergist’s office. The allergist can easily spot when an adverse reaction is taking place. However, the vaccine is not available to allergists.

Private physicians need to fill out authorization forms to vaccinate. At this point, allergists have not been able to get this form, according to Ottawa allergist Dr Seema Khan.

As a result, Khan’s patients cannot be vaccinated under her watchful eye. This means that parent Elizabeth McCarten cannot get her egg-allergic daughter vaccinated. McCarten’s daughter is in a high-risk group because she also has asthma.

McCarten is upset. She cannot understand the delay. “… [Asthmatic patients] are at risk of severe complications and are the ones who could end up on ventilators, ” she said.

While Canadians wait for their allergists to get the shot, American allergists already have H1N1 vaccine and are administering it. McCarten – who used to live in the US – is considering returning there with her daughter if the situation doesn’t resolve soon in Ontario.

Why do we still produce flu vaccines with eggs? Dr Thomas Frieden of the CDC in Atlanta said that non-egg techniques for creating flu vaccine is still in the experimental stage.

Source: CBC News