As COVID-19 vaccines arrive, Europe looks back at side effects of swine flu | Science | In-depth Science and Technology Reports | DW

Listen to the full interview on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

DW: We continue to see vaccine skeptics referring to the swine flu pandemic in 2009 as the reason they won’t take a COVID-19 vaccine. Let’s go back – what happened?

Matti Sällberg: In March 2009, we had an epidemic of a new influenza virus. It probably came from pigs in Mexico and then it spread as a pandemic around the world. The main difference from many other flu epidemics was that young people tended to get very sick. And the alarm bells rang everywhere, it looked like the Spanish flu epidemic of 1917. So a vaccine was developed against swine flu and was given in 60 or 90 million doses around the world. In Europe – and especially in the Nordic countries, almost exclusively – cases of narcolepsy have appeared after these vaccinations. It was about 300 cases.

So these swine flu shots were being given, people were getting their shots, and then all of a sudden people started noticing a surprising number –

No no. First of all, you have to understand that we distribute, globally, 60 to 90 million doses. We are talking about 300 cases of narcolepsy. It is therefore an extremely rare event. An extremely rare event.

I understand that was rare, but still, for 300 people to contract narcolepsy – this was not reported in any of the trials? When did the cases appear?

I don’t remember exactly when they first appeared in relation to vaccines.

So what happened next? Have the vaccinations stopped? Have people stopped getting vaccinated? Or was this considered a normal or acceptable side effect of the distribution of these vaccines?

This is absolutely not a normal side effect. The confounding factor is that the [swine flu] the virus itself causes narcolepsy. And then it is very often difficult to dissect whether it was caused by the viral infection or the vaccine. Yet the Swedish authorities have decided to compensate those who developed narcolepsy.

Why shouldn’t people be afraid that something similar might not happen with a COVID-19 vaccine? Is there a reason why these new vaccines are different, and shouldn’t happen, compared to swine flu vaccines?

Absolutely. First of all, clinical trials are now much more important. We have already vaccinated over 100,000 people. There have not yet been any serious adverse events associated with these vaccinations. There is no evidence, as far as I know, that COVID-19 causes narcolepsy. This is definitely not the one we’re going to see – if we’re going to see any serious side effects.

One of our listeners, Stefan, wrote to us: “I am not an anti-vaxxer. But my first inclination is NOT to take the COVID-19 vaccine, as I am not convinced that enough research has been carried out Side effects. ” He talks about long term side effects.

Yeah, but – I understand that. But then the other option is that we stay in a lockdown. So the research that has been done – I really have to stress this – the safety studies that have been done now with these vaccines are quite exceptional. These are extremely important studies. So I would say that the likelihood of these vaccines causing common side effects that are actually worse than the COVID-19 pandemic, is extremely rare. At least in the northern hemisphere, where we have an elderly population that is at risk of dying. We have a lot of people in the hospital right now. So, I mean, you have to put that in perspective.

Our listener Stefan’s question, if I may come back to it, is: “Was this rushed?” He talks about long term side effects. Did it go too fast?

No, I don’t think it went too fast if you look at the clinical trials. The clinical trials started in March, they are ongoing until now, so they will last for a year. So no, in this respect absolutely not, it was not rushed.

I know we can’t compare apples to oranges, and comparing an mRNA vaccine to the flu vaccine that was taken over in 2009 is unscientific and silly… But IF something were to happen, like the epidemic of narcolepsy, from mRNA vaccines now, and you look back 10 years – would you say things were rushed this time around?

You need to define what you mean by “rushed”. You have to look at the clinical trials that have been done. More than 100,000 people have received these vaccines. So far, we have not seen any unusual serious adverse events. You can never rule that out.

Matti Sällberg is professor and biomedical analyst at the Swedish Karolinska Institute. His main area of ​​research is vaccines.