Woman claims she developed narcolepsy after receiving swine flu vaccine

A 26-year-old woman who was given the Pandemrix swine flu vaccine as a teenager has sued in the High Court claiming she developed the sleep disorder narcolepsy as a result.

Woman claims she developed narcolepsy after receiving swine flu vaccine

A 26-year old woman who was injected with the Pandemrix swine flu vaccine as a teenager has sued in the High Court claiming she developed the sleep disorder narcolepsy as a result.

Aoife Bennett was only 16 years old when she got the vaccine as part of a mass vaccination programme as the country braced itself for a threatened human swine flu pandemic ten years ago.

Her Senior Counsel Dermot Gleeson SC told the High Court by the time Aoife was vaccinated in December 2009, the “so called pandemic “ and the serious infection were over. The UK and Northern Ireland had stopped mass vaccination on November 19, 2009.

“If Aoife Bennett was in Newry rather than in Naas, 85 miles away, she would not now have narcolepsy.” Mr Gleeson said.

The swine flu vaccination programme he said cost a total of €100million. Counsel said it was “ a good thing that went “off the rails” and was “badly managed” by the vaccine producer Glaxosmithkline and the State agencies in Ireland.

The truth, counsel said was the Pandemrix vaccine was never tested on teenagers.

Counsel added: “It was forgivable for the HSE to offer the vaccine. It was unforgivable not to tell Aoife and her parents what they well knew about it at the time.”

He said the case against the HSE is about “not coming clean” and not telling what was known about the vaccine.

This is the first case over an alleged link between the human swine flu vaccine and narcolepsy and is a test case for as many as one hundred other cases due before the High Court. The court will first decide on liability.

Ms Bennett, Lakelands, Nass, Co Kildare, a third level student has sued the Minister for Health, the HSE, the vaccine producer Glaxosmithkline Biologicals S.A. and the Health

Products Regulatory Authority.

HSE brochures on the vaccine it is claimed had the effect of allegedly misleading those who read them as to the safety of the Pandemrix vaccine and the alleged risk associated with its use. It is claimed the brochures contained advice which was not consistent with the the actual facts.

One brochure it is alleged was written in a manner that most reading it would believe that everybody except those with a confirmed lab test for swine flu needed to get the vaccine and that it was safe to use Pandemrix.

It is further claimed the Health Minister and HSE ought to have known those who read the brochures were likely to come to an alleged erroneous conclusion as to the safety of Pandemrix vaccine and whether it had been adequately tested at all on children and adolescents prior to its release to the public.

Glaxosmithkline it is claimed demanded an indemnity from liability from the State before it would agree to supply the vaccine.

Parents if they had know all this would be likely to have not consented to the administration of Pandemrix to their children, it is claimed.

The Health Products Regulation Authority it is alleged was well aware there was an alternative vaccine which had more clinical data available in relation to its safety and efficacy.

All the defendants deny the claims and deny liability.

Mr Gleeson stressed it was not an anti vaccination case and he said the Bennetts are a pro vaccination family. He said there was no message going out of the court that people should not vaccinate their children.

He said Aoife got the vaccine in December 2009 just a few days before her seventeen birthday. Her narcolepsy was not diagnosed until almost two years later. He said narcolepsy is an auto immune disease which is incurable where Aoife suffers uncontrollable bouts of sleep during the day. The disease affects those with a genetic variant. Aoife can be “ like a puppet collapsing during the day” and she once collapsed in the shower breaking her teeth.

Counsel said 1000 children in Europe suffered narcolepsy in countries where the Pandemrix vaccine was given but in Germany there was virtually none as the authorities advised against the vaccine.

The truth , counsel said was the Pandemrix vaccine was never tested on teenagers and it was “an untested product.”

The case before Mr Justice Michael McGrath continues on Wednesday.

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