OTTAWA — The country’s chief public health officer says few Canadians have suffered serious side effects from the swine-flu shot.
Dr. David Butler-Jones says that of the 6.5 million people who have received the H1N1 vaccine, only 36 have had serious adverse reactions.
He says one person is believed to have died from a serious reaction to the vaccine, but the death hasn’t yet been conclusively linked to the flu shot.
Butler-Jones says the serious side effects fall into two categories: allergic reactions or fevers and convulsions.
Mild effects, such as nausea, soreness, headaches and fever, are far more common reactions to the swine-flu shot — just as they are for all vaccines.
The federal government says it will list adverse reactions to the H1N1 vaccine on its www.fightflu.ca website.