40 families are taking legal action in the case of Meningitec, a vaccine against meningitis. Some batches loaded with heavy metals would have contaminated 39 infants and a 24-year-old adult.
Vaccines in turmoil again! Forty families have just filed a legal summons at the Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) tribunal de grande instance for the attention of the CSP pharmaceutical laboratory.
In question, the occurrence of serious symptoms (high fevers, restlessness, irritability, skin rashes, digestive disorders, continuous diarrhea …) in their children following a vaccination with defective batches of Meningitec, between April and December 2014.
Used in infants from 2 months, adolescents and adults, this vaccine is indicated to prevent meningitis caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C.
A vaccine withdrawn from the market in 2014
A case that could have been partly avoided, since on September 25, 2014, the CSP laboratory, as a precaution, and in agreement with the National Medicines Safety Agency, withdrew from the market all batches of the Meningitec vaccine, 21 August total, due to a quality problem encountered during manufacturing.
That same day, the ANSM declared: “At present, no adverse reaction report linked to this quality defect has been reported to the laboratory or to the ANSM”.
But after investigation, it seems that some lots remained on sale in a few pharmacies, contaminating the children treated. Among the list of heavy metals found in the analyzes of the hair of these children, we find lead, aluminum, tin, silver, or even silicon.
THE’National Union of Citizen’s Health Associations (UNACS), to whom families have turned, recalls for his part, that in France, “only 1 to 10% of adverse effects are notified. This means that 90 to 99% of the adverse effects are not notified, therefore considerably underestimated, ”she thinks. Words that suggest that the case could still grow.
An identical action carried out in Italy
She adds that “many parents of children vaccinated with Meningitec have tried to get in touch with the manufacturer (the CSP pharmaceutical laboratory) and with the Ministry of Health in order to learn more about the risks incurred by the use. of this questionable product. Without an answer and left to fend for themselves, families got together and decided to initiate legal proceedings, ”she concludes.
In addition, these plaintiffs, ten of whom live in Brittany, have also created a collective and opened a Facebook page in order to discuss what they are experiencing and share about this defective vaccine. According to France 3 Brittany, the hearing is scheduled for September 22 before the Clermont-Ferrand tribunal de grande instance.
Finally, it should be emphasized that this case is not just a Franco-French issue. A similar action is indeed underway in Italy for this same vaccine.
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