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ACDP MP, Cheryllyn Dudley today challenged the Minister's failure to reassure the nation regarding safety of the H1N1 vaccine:

"Hon Minister on the 9th of March we put a question to you regarding the allegations that the Swine flu or H1N1 vaccine is potentially high risk. I was not fighting with you Hon Minister but giving you the opportunity to reassure people that concerns were misplaced but you chose not to. We were grateful that the campaign then appeared to be postponed but now we hear it has gone ahead this month and hundreds of thousands of people have been targeted...yet no reassurance has been given that allegations have been investigated despite further questions to you Hon Minister.

Doctors and scientists have said the vaccine is insufficiently tested and can cause dangerous neurological side effects, it has also been implicated in causing abortion and sterility and the dangers to children are yet unknown. It is said to contain 5000 times the acceptable mercury level for drinking water.

In addition accusations that drug companies manipulated the WHO into downgrading its criteria for a pandemic form the basis of an enquiry being conducted by the Strasbourg-based human-rights group, the Council of Europe. Professor Ulrich Keil, a WHO adviser on heart disease said the decision to downgrade criteria has led to a gigantic misallocation' of health budgets. Since the vaccine was withdrawn in the U.S., some suspected that it would be sold to Third World countries to recoup financial losses. The ACDP is concerned that the South African public may be at risk as no assurances have been given that these serious allegations and warnings have been investigated. Hon Minister what plans are in place to ensure the public is well informed regarding risks before the immunization campaigns begin and has this been budgeted for?