Group to track flu shot’s effects
Advisers to help feds with safety

WASHINGTON — Independent health advisers begin monitoring safety of the swine flu vaccine today, an extra step the government promised in this year’s unprecedented program to watch for possible side effects.

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U.S. prison to get shots
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base will soon get swine flu vaccines, despite complaints that American civilians should have priority, a military spokesman said Sunday.

Army Maj. James Crabtree, a spokesman for the jail facility, acknowledged potential criticism, but said military officials are "responsible for the health and care of the detainee population.”
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Decades of safe influenza inoculations mean specialists aren’t expecting problems with the swine flu vaccine, because it’s made the same way as the regular winter flu vaccine. But systems to track the health of millions of Americans are being tapped to make sure — to spot any rare but real problems quickly, and to explain the inevitable false alarms when common disorders coincide with inoculation.

U.S. health officials have spotted no concerns to date, Dr. Bruce Gellin, head of the National Vaccine Program Office, said.

A specially appointed working group of independent experts will track the vaccine’s safety, too. Its charge is to raise a red flag if members feel the feds miss anything.

"Given the rapidity with which this particular vaccine was rolled out, there seems to be an extra-special obligation to make sure things remain as uncomplicated as they have in the past,” Dr. Marie McCormick of the Harvard School of Public Health, who chairs the working group, told the AP.

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