WHO sees a few minor side effects from H1N1 shot

Vaccine is the best tool against swine flu despite reports of a few minor side effects from the initial campaign in China, the World Health Organization said.

Vaccine is the best tool against swine flu despite reports of a few minor side effects from the initial campaign in China, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

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Four out of 39,000 people vaccinated against H1N1 in China have had side effects such as muscle cramps and headache, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.

"Adverse events are fully to be expected, especially these mild types," Hartl said, adding that this was particularly true in cases where very large numbers of people are being vaccinated.

The vaccination campaign will soon move to Australia, the United States and parts of Europe, he said, encouraging people, especially health care workers to be vaccinated.

"The vaccine is the single most important tool that we have against influenza," Hartl said. "For certain groups such as health care workers, it's doubly important to get vaccinated because health care workers have the ability to protect both themselves and to protect others by getting vaccinated."

The US government will be tracking possible side effects when mass flu vaccinations begin this month in hopes of quickly detecting any rare problems that are actually caused by the vaccine and not pure coincidence.