Canadian Vaccine Panel: Give the seasonal flu shot at the same time as H1N1

It is unnecessary to delay giving seasonal flu shots this year because of concerns they might raise the risk of catching swine flu, and provinces and territories should offer the shots as soon as possible, a new recommendation from a panel of Canadian vaccine experts said Sunday.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization did not criticize the decision by most provinces and territories to put off delivering seasonal shots until the new year - a move based at least in part on unpublished Canadian studies that show a possible link. . . . The move by most provinces and territories to delay seasonal vaccine programs this year was based on a series of as-yet unpublished Canadian studies which found people who had received a flu shot last fall were between 1.5 and two times more likely to catch H1N1 this spring.
The link, if real, was to mild disease. There was no suggestion the people who had had seasonal flu shots were more likely to end up in hospital with or dying from H1N1 infection.

But the committee, known as NACI, suggests even if the finding is real the risk of not vaccinating against seasonal flu is greater than the one identified by the studies.
And it is urging provinces and territories to move ahead with seasonal flu shots as soon as is feasible - even giving a thumbs up to the notion of delivering both at the same time, if that can still be arranged.