Novartis says confident flu vaccines produced in Italy are safe

ZURICH (Reuters) – Novartis AG said on Thursday it was confident of the safety of two flu vaccines produced at its Italian site and had witnessed no safety concerns to date. On Wednesday, Italy banned the sales and use of four anti-influenza vaccines produced by Novartis pending tests for possible side effects. The Swiss health watchdog later followed suit, issuing a precautionary halt to deliveries of the vaccines Agrippal and Fluad, which are manufactured in Italy. Novartis said the move by the Italian health ministry followed a report by the drugmaker of small particles in the vaccines. …