Pathology results still unknown

The family of 23-year-old Clayton Cachia is still in the dark about what caused his death, six weeks after he passed away.

"We do not even have a death certificate," his mother Pauline said yesterday.

Mr Cachia, who worked as a medical representative with a pharmaceutical company, died on January 13, five days after he took the swine flu jab.

Although the health authorities have all but ruled out any relation between the H1N1 vaccine and Mr Cachia's death, the magisterial inquiry has still not been concluded and the results of tests still have to arrive from abroad.

"We have still not been told the outcome of the results," Mrs Cachia said, adding that nobody had yet told the family what caused Clayton's death, even though they had been allowed to bury him.

However, on a Facebook page in memory of Mr Cachia, his sister, Romina, wrote that she knew what caused her brother's death.

"I know what caused his sudden death but I'm not going to public it out!!!" she wrote. She said it was "totally a lie" that her brother died "from this flu".

Sources said Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who is conducting the inquiry, was still not in possession of the pathology results and conclusions.

When contacted, pathologist Marie Therese Camilleri Podestà said she was awaiting toxicology results from abroad to conclude her report.

The sources said blood tests and parts of the affected tissues from Mr Cachia's body would have been sent abroad for analysis to determine the cause of death, even though the autopsy found no direct correlation between his death and the flu vaccine.

The health authorities have reported the case to the European Medicines Authority.

Health director general Ray Busuttil said: "We reported that we had a case of someone who died five days after taking the vaccine."

He said the link was "extremely remote" and the possibility of any connection between the death and the vaccine much less than one per cent.

"Had we thought there was a link, we would have stopped the vaccination process immediately," he said.

Mrs Cachia disagrees. "He was a healthy boy. I can only blame it," she said, in contrast with what her daughter wrote on Facebook.

The family has told the authorities not to give out any information about Mr Cachia's death. Asked about this, Mrs Cachia said the family wanted to stem the rumours that followed his death.

"We wanted him to be left in peace," she said.

However, if she gets to know her son's death had any relation with the flu vaccine, she would make it public, she said, although she feared that if any such link was found, this would be hidden from her.

Asked whether she would be willing to speak up if the vaccine had triggered an unknown underlying condition, Mrs Cachia answered: "Of course."

She said her son had taken the vaccine in order not to get ill.

The authorities are still urging people to take the jab. The uptake of the vaccine has been low, with about 90,000 getting jabbed. The authorities had ordered 425,000 doses of the vaccine for the virus after the World Health Organisation declared a pandemic in June.

The low uptake, together with a change in dosage requirements, had led the authorities to consider cancelling a number of vaccines on order. The vaccines were ordered when the WHO was indicating the need for two doses for under-18-year-olds and those over 60. Dr Busuttil said talks had already started with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to cancel the remaining 80,000-odd doses.