Parliamentary Inquiry into Hendra virus vaccine - update

Inquiry into Hendra virus (HeV) EquiVacc® vaccine and its use by veterinary surgeons in Queensland

Survey of horse deaths 

The committee is conducting a short survey to assist its inquiry. The committee invites horse owners, veterinarians and others who know of a horse death that may have been connected to an adverse reaction to the HeV vaccine to fill out a short survey form. Please return completed forms to the committee’s secretariat by Friday 7 October 2016.   Personal information provided on survey forms will remain confidential.

The survey has been designed to assist the committee to understand how adverse reactions to the HeV vaccine have been reported and handled, to identify any deaths that may not have been reported and to document the circumstances in which those deaths occurred. 

The survey form is available from the inquiry’s website HERE.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has published a Summary of adverse experience reports made to the APVMA about Hendra virus vaccine on its website.  This summary includes information about the numbers and ‘reaction incidence’, or risks, of adverse reactions calculated using the numbers of doses administered.  From the 440,438 doses of the vaccine that have been administered to 31 March 2016, the APVMA has classified only seven (7) horse deaths as ‘possibly’ related to an adverse reaction to the vaccine.  No deaths have been classified as ‘probably’ related to the vaccine. The APVMA summary also includes information about the classifications used by the APVMA and how they are determined.