[Bagor]

OTTAWA — The lack of made-in-Canada medical evidence used to determine the safety of the H1N1 vaccine is a symptom of a weak and poorly funded public-health system, says one of this country's leading infectious disease experts.
Those weaknesses are apparent when quick, decisive action is needed to respond to a pandemic, Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, said Tuesday.
"We, as a society, are unwilling to pay for public health in this country," said McGeer. "We systematically underfund public health badly and seriously. And if we don't fund public health, they can't do their job."
McGeer was responding to Health Canada's decision last week to approve the H1N1 vaccine without evaluating its safety and effectiveness in a single Canadian.
Instead, the federal drug regulator approved the pandemic flu shot based on the results of a small clinical trial conducted in Belgium.
The study involved 130 healthy adults, who were inoculated with the same version of Canada's vaccine, which is produced by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Arepanrix.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/...078/story.html