Japan stops vaccines after 4 tots die

TOKYO -- Japan has temporarily stopped using vaccines from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis SA of France while it investigates the deaths of four children who were inoculated, the health ministry said Monday.

The decision to halt the use of Pfizer's Prevenar and Sanofi's ActHIB against pneumonia, some types of meningitis and other infections was made Saturday. The government is to hear from experts at a meeting Tuesday, the health ministry said.

The four children, from under 6 months to 2 years old, died between March 2 and March 4. The deaths occurred the same day to three days after the vaccines were administered, the ministry said.

The vaccinations began in Japan about a year to two years ago. The vaccines have been administered to 1 million to 1.5 million children, according to the ministry.

Pfizer in Japan said the company was cooperating with the investigation on the Prevenar vaccine. Prevenar has been in use in the United States for about 10 years, the company said.

Sanofi-Aventis in Japan said its ActHIB vaccine was approved in France in 1992, and a year later in the United States.