Meningitis C jabs pulled over contamination fears

London, February 26: Drug giant Novartis has recalled 21,000 doses of the meningitis C jabs meant for babies as a precaution following fears of contamination.

The meningitis C vaccine is sold under the trade name Menjugate Kit and is manufactured in Italy by Novartis. It is used to immunize babies at two, three and four months.

Approximately 21,000 doses in total have been removed from the shelves, as they were feared to be contaminated with the hospital-acquired infection, the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium.

The recalled two batches of Menjugate Kits were checked before leaving the factory and only after passing the safety checks, they were transported by road to the United Kingdom. However, a small number of samples transported to another country by air tested positive for the staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which is associated with blood poisoning and skin infections.

Past night, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there had been no reports of adverse reactions and it does not believe that children in the United Kingdom were at risk.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis said it was “committed to being a safe and reliable provider."

The spokeswoman for the MHR said, “The tested samples that failed the sterility test were part of a non-routine study undertaken by the company and were not part of the UK market product. Further investigations into the cause of the failure are under way by the company.”

“There is currently no evidence to show that there is any risk to children,” she added.

According to Dr Ged Lee, from the MHRA the action was just a precautionary one and not even one sample that had come to the Britain had been contaminated.

Adding further he said, "The batch that was contaminated I can reassure you was not distributed into the UK and I can also reassure parents that the product that has been used in the UK has passed all the necessary quality standards and is perfectly safe."

Every year millions of MenC vaccines are used to immunize young babies but this vaccination has only been available in the Britain since January 2009. It is believed meningitis jabs save around one hundred and fifty lives every winter.