Officials with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) have announced that the death of children in Japan because of vaccinations might not pose any risk in Australia. It informed that the Prevenar vaccine being provided in Australia did not belong to the same batch as the one that was shipped to Japan.

It needs to be remembered that the death of four babies in Japan has led to authorities temporarily shutting down the use of two vaccines. The two vaccines are Prevenar by Pfizer and ActHIB by Sanofi-Aventis. Prevenar is administered to protect children against meningitis and pneumonia.

A Spokeswoman for TGA said that the body was in the knowledge about the reports of infant deaths in Japan. She informed that the pharmaceutical Company has reassured Australian authorities that the Prevenar batch being sold in the country was absolutely safe.

The TGA is currently working in close coordination with regulatory authorities in Japan.

It needs to be kept in mind that apart from these four cases, a similar incident had taken place in November last year. Apparently, an infant had died after receiving his second dose of ActHIB.

Meanwhile, American authorities have also taken a note of the deaths in Japan, though they have said that they did not find any new safety concerns in the incidents. (IANS)