REPORTS OF CONTAMINATED TETANUS TOXOID VACCINE ARE FALSE

Press Release WHO/56 - 19 July 1995

REPORTS OF CONTAMINATED TETANUS TOXOID VACCINE ARE FALSE, SAYS WHO


Disturbing reports are reaching the World Health Organization (WHO) from Mexico, Nicaragua, Tanzania, and the Philippines, that the tetanus toxoid (TT) vaccine has been contaminated with a substance - human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) - that is claimed to reduce women's fertility.

"These rumours are completely false and are totally without any scientific basis", says Dr Jong-Wock Lee, Director of the WHO Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunization. "They are categorically denied by the Governments responsible for administering the vaccine, by the vaccine manufacturers, by UNICEF (which provides much of the TT vaccine used in the world) and by the World Health Organization".

WHO and UNICEF insist it would be unethical and forcefully rejected by them, if any vaccine vials being used contained substances other than the vaccine itself.

The reports originated in the Philippines, where a pro-life group submitted a batch of vaccine to a totally inappropriate test which produced a false positive result.

The World Health Organization has followed up this initial test by conducting independent testing to assess whether hCG is present in vials of tetanus toxoid vaccine produced by different manufacturers.

All tests were either negative or produced results with no significance. Indeed, tests conducted by the Human Co of Hungary showed even higher results in tap water from the laboratory and from the hospital than from the vaccine itself.

Professor Salvatore Mancuso, Chairman of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy, commented that the positive test results should be considered "as an artefact rather than a true value". The other testing laboratories, St Lukes in the Philippines which tested four lots, the Food and Drug Administration of the USA which tested four samples (two from the vaccine used in Mexico, one from a US producer and one from a European supplier to UNICEF) and two samples from Tanzania tested by the Netherlands Government all produced results that were negative or of no significance.

The summary of these findings is that, without exception, when interpreted by independent laboratory staff, including those in the Philippines that conducted the original tests which started the rumour, all samples of tetanus toxoid vaccine have proved negative for hCG.

At present, an estimated 700,000 cases of neonatal tetanus and 60,000 cases of maternal tetanus are being prevented each year through immunization.

"False rumours concerning the safety and purpose of vaccines, such as the tetanus toxoid vaccine given to adult women, may create a loss of faith in these vaccines, result in lower immunization coverage and lead to a wholly unnecessary loss of life from the diseases they effectively and safely prevent," comments Dr Lee.

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For further information please contact Valery Abramov, Health Communications and Public Relations, WHO, Geneva. Tel. (41 22) 791 2543. Fax. (41 22) 4858.

http://www.who.int/archives/inf-pr-1995/pr95-56.html

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