N.Y. Medical Workers File Lawsuit to Stop H1N1 Vaccinations

A group of New York doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals have filed a lawsuit seeking an end to widespread vaccinations for the H1N1 flu virus because they claim the vaccines have not been properly tested for effectiveness or possible side effects.

The group filed a temporary restraining order in a Washington, D.C. federal court seeking to stop the government from continuing with millions of vaccinations designed to stop the spread of the potentially fatal illness, according to an AFP news report.

“None of the vaccines against H1N1 have been properly tested,” said the group’s attorney Jim Turner, according to AFP.

The vaccinations are designed to stop the spread of the so-called “swine flu” by injecting live influenza virus into patients, but doing so could set off a global pandemic of the illness, the group’s lawsuit states.

“I don’t know of another live vaccine for flu,” Turner told AFP. “So you have immediately a new problem you don’t have with a killed vaccine.”

Officials Say Vaccines are Safe

Federal health officials say the vaccines have been tested and found safe and effective. Hundreds of thousands of people have already received the shots and there are shortages of vaccines being reported in many communities. Tens of millions more people, many of them young children and pregnant women who are most at risk of illness, could be vaccinated in the coming weeks.

Turner and his group accuse the Food and Drug Administration of overhyping the risks of H1N1 and rushing millions of doses of untested vaccines to doctors across the country without adequate data to support doing so.

“When I say test data, I don’t mean some professor at some medical school somewhere infected some students and said ‘I don’t see any problems,’” Turner said.

Group Could Halt Vaccinations

If the group succeeds in court, the government could be forced to temporarily stop all H1N1 vaccinations until a judge can hear arguments in the controversy and decide whether to grant a permanent injunction or allow the vaccinations to resume. It is unclear whether a hearing has been set for the group’s requested temporary restraining order.

Since H1N1 was first detected in Mexico in April 2009, more than 4,500 deaths worldwide have been linked to the severe form of the flu.

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