The manufacture of HSA involves pooling together the plasma from a large number of individual donations. This person's donation was one of 22,353 used to make a pool of plasma. Expert advice, both national and international, available to the Department of Health and Children indicates that the potential risk, if any, to recipients is essentially non-existent. Albumin has a long tradition of safety. This is based partly on the fact that the purification methods used in its manufacture eliminate the potential for infectivity.
Albumin is produced at the last stage of a series of purification procedures.
Recent studies of the various plasma fractions have shown no infectivity associated with albumin. The Minister has disclosed this information as a precautionary step, and on the basis that the public have a right to have it - even though there is no evidence that recipients of the vaccine are at any risk as a result. The Minister was also conscious that the information was likely to come into the public domain in any event, and that it was preferable that it be made available with appropriate expert advice and assurances for the public about the issues involved. These use HSA obtained from non UK donors. No other vaccines are affected.