THIS country will receive its first batch of influenza A/H1N1 vaccines from Swiss pharmaceutical company, Novartis, said Minister of Health Jerry Narace.

’The first shipment should come from Novartis. We are still speaking with the PAHO (Pan American Health Organisation) about the other 260,000 doses,’ he said while speaking to the media at a graduation ceremony for nurses at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, on Thursday evening.

To date, Novartis has shipped more than 7.5 million doses of influenza A H1N1 or swine flu vaccines in multi-dose vials and pre-filled ready-to-use syringes. The company has also initiated deliveries against the 90 million doses of proprietary adjuvant, a mixture which not only doubles the amount of vaccine doses produced, but stimulates increased, nonspecific immunity and is included in many ’killed’ vaccines.

Doctors around the world, including Dr Roy L Schneider, an internationally-renowned oncologist, are however concerned about adjuvants, especially the ones that contain Thimerosal.

Until October 16, all adjuvants in licensed vaccines in the United States were aluminium salts and can be found in the tetanus, Hepatitis A and B, anthrax and other killed vaccines.

However, the experts say Thimerosal is a compound composed of 50 per cent mercury, which can cause neurological damage and even autism. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) insist that it is safe.

On the CDC website, www.cdc.gov, it states that some multi-dose vaccines will contain Thimerosal as a preservative to prevent potential contamination after the vial is opened, while others will be available in single-dose units, and will not require the use of Thimerosal as a preservative.

Although they are aware of the dangers that the preservative Thimerosal can have in vaccines and the suggestions that it can cause autism, the CDC insists that numerous studies have found no association between Thimerosal exposure and autism.

Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Dr Anton Cumberbatch, could not specify what types this country would receive. However, he insisted that ’we will only use vaccines that are certified as safe and effective, as we have always done in the past with PAHO guidelines’.

At a pandemic H1N1 briefing yesterday, however, the PAHO and WHO gave the assurances that all vaccines are safe for use in all recipients, including pregnant women and children.