The health ministry will survey about 20,000 of the roughly 1 million medical workers to be vaccinated against the H1N1 swine flu Monday to document any side effects, ministry sources said Thursday.
The survey is being taken ahead of the public vaccinations set to begin in November. Priority will be given to those with the highest risk of being endangered by an H1N1 infection, including people with chronic diseases and pregnant women.
About 70 hospitals run by the National Hospital Organization will report adverse effects from the vaccine, including serious nerve and respiratory disorders to light fever and reddening of the skin, to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the sources said.
Symptoms that emerge in doctors and nurses within three weeks of inoculation will be reported as cases very likely to have been caused by the vaccine, they said.
The results should help the ministry and health experts work out criteria for determining whether specific symptoms are side effects or anomalies.
Without such criteria, medical institutions could end up linking side effects to the vaccine even when the causes are unclear, the sources said. This could be useful in cases where many people are being inoculated during a major outbreak.