Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

DEH CHO
Health officials in the Deh Cho are playing catch-up on tuberculosis vaccinations for babies now that a vaccine has been acquired by the federal government to replace its previous supply, which was recalled.

In June, Sanofi Pasteur voluntarily recalled its Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, which is used to prevent serious complications of tuberculosis (TB) infection, after there was concern that problems with the manufacturing facility may have affected the quality of the product, according to a press release from Health Canada.

Seven babies in the region are expected to receive the replacement vaccine, which was made in Japan. Local health authorities will be contacting parents of the children who need the shot, said Wanda White, manager of the health protection unit for the NWT.

"It's very important we keep this program going to protect the infants in the NWT from going on to have active tuberculosis," said White. "When they get exposed, about 40 per cent of young children will go on to have TB, so it's a really high rate of TB we prevent."

The vaccine is targeted to regions that have seen higher rates of TB previously and the Deh Cho is one of those areas, said White. In the NWT, the disease is seen mostly in aboriginal people and immigrants from new countries with high rates of TB, she said.

Health services is expected to vaccinate 126 children by mid-December, said Amy Lee, communicable disease consultant for the Department of Health and Social Services.

The NWT will have enough of a supply to give out vaccinations to babies born in the near future, said White.

"We have ordered in excess of a thousand doses and we have ordered that so that we will be in the position that we don't need to rely on Sanofi (Pasteur) to get product next year," she said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.