About a month ago, a vaccination session against the papillomavirus (HPV) carried out in a college in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, turned into a tragedy. A teenager fell heavily from his chair, feeling unwell a few minutes after receiving his injection. He died on October 27 from head trauma, according to the autopsy. This Tuesday, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) recommends that adolescents vaccinated against human papillomavirus remain lying or sitting on the ground for fifteen minutes following the injection.
In a document published on its website on Tuesday, the Medicines Agency updates the “post-vaccination monitoring” instructions for healthcare professionals. As one of the main side effects of the vaccine is the risk of “feeling unwell”, “it is important that simple measures are put in place to avoid any injury: vaccinated people must remain lying down (on floor mats or blankets) ) or sitting on the ground leaning against a wall in a clear space,” explains the agency.
The surveillance framework was not specified
Until now, according to the instructions for vaccination in college, organized since October, only monitoring of students within a quarter of an hour following the injection was recommended, without specifying in what context. A note from the ARS (Regional Health Agency) Ile-de-France published in June explained that students had to be seated on “chairs” or “armchairs”, and recommended lying down students who were unwell.
The Nantes public prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation into manslaughter, told AFP that “the schoolboy, who was not feeling well shortly after the injection, was seated on a chair and fell backwards.” on the head after feeling unwell.” The ANSM specifies that post-vaccination discomfort, sometimes brief losses of consciousness, are “uncommon and quickly resolved, may correspond to a psychogenic reaction to the injection” and “may be accompanied by tremors or stiffness”.
The campaign to vaccinate middle school students in 5th grade against human papillomavirus (HPV), the cause of many cancers such as cervical cancer, was launched at the beginning of October in France. It is not obligatory.