TORONTO - Health Canada lifted its hold on Novartis flu vaccines on Wednesday, saying a review of the products reassured the department the vaccines are safe to use. Switzerland, which had also suspended use of the vaccines last week, followed suit. And it was reported that even Italy, which was the first in a chain of countries to halt use of the Novartis vaccines, is now reviewing its decision. In fact, a senior official of Health Canada admitted the regulatory body might never have put a hold on the products if it had had details last week about why its Italian counterpart had blocked delivery of Novartis vaccines in that country. Health Canada was finally able to get that information from Italy on Tuesday, and also used other sources of data to conduct a risk assessment on the products, sold in Canada under the brand names Fluad and Agriflu. It turned out that Italy had taken the action based solely on a report from the company that it had found one batch of vaccine made at its ...
