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Many patients could have become ill with
myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) due to vaccine trials performed 15 years ago.
The Norwegian National Institute of Public Health tried out a vaccine against
meningitis for school children.
From 1987 to 1991 the (Norwegian) National
Institute of Public Health performed a vaccine trial on school children across the country. The
objective was to try out a newly developed vaccine against infectious meningitis. Around 180,000 youngsters took part in the trial.
Now still more patients with ME - also
called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are fearing that they
have become ill because of the vaccine. Many patients got the symptoms of ME
shortly after they were vaccinated.
19 people so far
The
(Norwegian) ME Association have, together with Professor Ola Didrik Saugstad, form the
University of Oslo, tried to document how many ME patients had
received the vaccine. Within a short time they had discovered 19
names. Saugstad has written many letters to the Norwegian Institute
of Public Health and asked them to perform a follow-up on the youths who
took part in the trials.
"If it shows that healthy youngsters have been given a serious illness
after a vaccine trial then it is a serious issue. It is also serious
that there has not been any proper and systematic follow-up of
the youths, and I expect the National Institute of Public Health to begin that",
says Saugstad.
Will not
investigate
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Ola Didrik Saugstad, Professor of Medicine, UiO. (NRK-photo:
Hallgeir Aunan) |
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But the National Institute of Public Health has, up till now, not been willing to
initiate a such a study. National Institute of Public Health Director, Geir Stene-Larsen, says that it will be difficult to get anything
out of a post trial analysis after so many years after the vaccine
was administered. |
Director Geir Stene-Larsen.
(NRK-photo: Silje Østmoe) |
"It
becomes a medical evaluation. If there is a strong basis then we must perform a study, but here we
are talking about a
single report where there is great uncertainty as to whether
there is any link between the vaccination and the illness
ME",
he says.
Compensation
A woman with ME who lives in Bergen
took the
National Institute of Public Health to court after she got ME following the vaccination. In
2003 she was paid almost 1.5 million kroner (£130,000) in
compensation in a compromise with the state. |
The
woman from Bergen is the only person in Norway who has had
confirmation of
a connection between her illness and the inoculation. But
the issue ended in a compromise and the associated papers
have not been published. The case has therefore gotten little
attention and no consequences for others with ME.
At the
National Institute of Public Health
they have no knowledge of the case. But director Geir
Stene-Larsen wrote on Monday, on the
National Institute of Public Health home page, that as soon as any more cases come to
light then they will look more closely at the issue. |
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Invest in ME are grateful
for permission from
 for permission to reproduce the above article.
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