A spokesman for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) says that anti-swine flu vaccine is safe and should be introduced in Poland without delay.

Martin Harvey Allchurch from the EMA says that he does not understand the position of Health Minister Ewa Kopacz that more tests need to be done on the vaccination.  

“The vaccines have undergone sufficient tests to conclude that they are safe,” he told the RMF radio station. He also died the claim by deputy Health Minister Adam Fronczak that four people had died in Sweden after being given the injection. “Those people did not die from the vaccine but from  disease,” he said.

This week Minister Kopacz said that the government had not yet purchased the vaccinations because little is known about side effects, and further tests are needed.

“If you wait till February or March next year then you risk an epidemic that is dangerous to children, pregnant women and the elderly,” he warned.

There have been 185 cases of swine flu and around 41,000 of seasonal flu so far diagnosed in Poland. (pg)