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NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published October 24 2006
Four people die after flu vaccination shots
(NewsTarget) Four people died after being injected with the flu
vaccine, the Health Ministry of Israel reported yesterday. Before
receiving the flu inoculations, three of the four individuals were
suffering from several chronic ailments, including heart disease and
diabetes. A fourth recipient -- a 67-year-old man -- suffered from
serious heart disease. He was found dead on a city street a few hours
after receiving the flu vaccine shot from his wife, a dentist.

The flu vaccine in question was made and distributed by the French
pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis. Sanofi-Aventis markets the vaccine
all over the world, and it was determined that all four deaths occurred
in people who had been inoculated with vaccine from the same series
made by the company.

The Health Ministry of Israel said Sunday that Sanofi-Aventis had been
asked whether unexplained fatalities had been reported in any other
country. An answer to this question was expected Monday, but if no
other reports are uncovered, inoculations will be allowed to continue,
according to Israeli Health Minister Ben-Yizri.

The Israeli Health Ministry has begun looking into possible sources of
contamination -- but so far none have been found in the actual vaccine.
At this time, 140,000 people have been inoculated. The Health Ministry
has started an investigation into the medical team at the Kiryat Gat
clinic where three of the four victims received their flu shots from
the same nurse.

However, the head of the national center for disease monitoring in the
Health Ministry -- Professor Manfred Green -- reassured a cautious
public this past Sunday by stating that there may be a simple
statistical explanation for the four deaths, by saying "About 100
people die every day in Israel from chronic diseases. These four
individuals could be part of that group."

Yitzhak Berlovitch, deputy director of the Health Ministry, stated that
no cases have ever been documented in Israel of deaths after flu
inoculations. There had not yet been any autopsies performed on the
four victims because "the Health Ministry has no justification for
doing so," according to Berlovitch.