More tests will be needed to determine if a two-year-old Brisbane girl died from having a seasonal flu vaccine, Queensland's chief health officer Jeannette Young says.
Authorities last week suspended seasonal flu vaccinations for children under five across Australia, following a high level of bad reactions among children.
Dr Young told reporters in Brisbane an initial autopsy had shown no sign that the vaccine was to blame for the death of Ashley Epapara.
The Queensland coroner is investigating the cause of her death.
Dr Young said a series of further tests would be necessary.
"There is no definitive evidence here that the vaccine has caused the death," she said on Tuesday.
"... It could still come out. We need to wait and see.
"But at this stage there's nothing jumping out and saying this child died as a result of receiving the vaccine."
Dr Young said she had done everything possible to find out more about the girl's death after scant details were provided by the media on April 9.
However, the matter proved impossible to follow up because no name was provided, and efforts to find out more from police and Brisbane hospitals turned up nothing.
Dr Young said she also contacted the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which had no notification of any vaccine-related death.
Once the media provided a name on the weekend, a more thorough investigation was launched.
Dr Young said Queensland Health staff had contacted the dead girl's family on Tuesday morning and would continue to liaise with them.
Queensland Health Minister Paul Lucas said he ordered Dr Young to investigate the case as soon as he learnt from the media, on April 9, that there may have been a vaccine-related death.
He said he was happy with her handling of the case given so few details were initially available.
If any problems were found with the vaccine it would be a matter for Canberra as the girl was vaccinated by a private GP, with a federally regulated drug under a federal program, Mr Lucas said.
He said the girl's GP was required by law to advise Queensland Health if he suspected she'd had any adverse reaction to the vaccine, but "no notification took place".
Dr Young said her staff had spoken to the GP on Tuesday, adding that the matter would be referred to the medical board.
"The GP was aware of the death and did not notify us," she said.
Dr Young said that so far there had been 41 adverse reactions to the seasonal flu vaccine in Queensland, including 15 in children under five.
Mr Lucas said there'd been 209 adverse reactions to swine flu but did not specify how many involved young children.
Dr Young said she was deeply concerned that high-risk adults, such as the elderly, might avoid having seasonal flu shots due to problems associated with child recipients.
"Older people are absolutely safe to go and have this. If they've got any risk factors, if they've got chronic disease or they're elderly, they really must go and have this," she said.
Seasonal flu shots have caused adverse reactions in 251 children under five in Western Australia, the state's chief health officer says.
In Western Australia, 55 children suffered convulsions after having the vaccination, and almost 200 others suffered fevers and vomiting, chief health officer Dr Tarun Weeramanthri said.
One child is in a serious but stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Seasonal flu shots have caused adverse reactions in 251 children under five in Western Australia, the state's chief health officer says.
Authorities last week suspended seasonal flu vaccinations for children under five across Australia, following a high level of bad reactions among children.
In Western Australia, 55 children suffered convulsions after having the vaccination, and almost 200 others suffered fevers and vomiting, chief health officer Dr Tarun Weeramanthri said.
One child is in a serious but stable condition at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Dr Weeramanthri said all states and territories were working to determine how many children had suffered adverse effects so that the national picture was clear.
"Once that national picture is built up this week we'll know more about whether there is a problem, which areas it is in, what possible causes there are," he told the ABC on Tuesday.
He said it was likely that several batches would be linked to adverse reactions, given the scale of the immunisation program.
"We found no evidence of any single batch being the cause of these reactions," he said.
Meanwhile in Queensland, more tests will be needed to determine if a two-year-old Brisbane girl died from having a seasonal flu vaccine, the state's chief health officer Jeannette Young says.
Dr Young told reporters in Brisbane an initial autopsy had shown no sign that the vaccine was to blame for the death of Ashley Epapara.
The Queensland coroner is investigating the cause of her death.
Dr Young said a series of further tests would be necessary.
"It's too early at this stage to say that the vaccine caused this child's death or what indeed caused this child's death," she said.
