In the afternoon of December 3, 2009, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) received a suspected adverse event report in a pregnant woman following pandemic influenza A (H1N1) vaccination. The case is a 41-year-old pregnant woman in her 38th week of pregnancy who received the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) vaccine on November 27, 2009.During her pregnancy examination on December 2, 2009, no fetal heartbeat was detected. On December 3, 2009, she had an induced abortion.CECC expressed its deepest condolences to the case and the family, and will provide assistance to the case as necessary.

Upon receipt of the adverse event report, the Vaccine Crisis Management Task Force immediately called a meeting.The meeting was convened by the Deputy Minister of Health Chang Shan-Chwen and attended by vaccine experts.The case’s symptom development, clinical manifestation and laboratory data were discussed to determine the cause of the event.This is the first adverse event reported in a pregnant woman following vaccination.The case is found to have two miscarriages previously.According to statistics compiled by the Bureau of National Health Insurance, the overall miscarriage rate is about 12.8%.In addition, no report of vaccine adverse event resulting in fetal death has been made overseas.Nevertheless, to be cautious, the Vaccine Crisis Management Task Force will continue to collect more information concerning the adverse event and report the cause of the event once it is determined.

As of now, a total of 11,847 pregnant women have received the H1N1 vaccine.Among them, 7 pregnant women were hospitalized and two had died. One suspected adverse event following the vaccination has been reported.Since the benefits of the H1N1 vaccination campaign outweigh the risks of the campaign, the campaign will still proceed as planned.

Participants in the meeting include Superintendent Yan-Tsou Lin of Chang Gung Children's Hospital, Professor Ping-Ing Lee of National Taiwan University Hospital, Director Chih-Jen Tseng of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Chia Yi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Superintendent Da-Chen Chu who is the commander in charge of epidemic control in Taipei and preventive medicine physicians from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.