COIMBATORE: Two infants died within hours of being administered the pentavalent and rotavirus vaccines in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
The state health secretary and immunization experts said vaccination was unlikely to be the cause of the deaths. The children, both boys aged two-and-a half months, were vaccinated at different places. One child was vaccinated with 13 others at an anganwadi at Masakalipalayam in Coimbatore around 10.30am on Wednesday. He was declared dead a couple of hours later, after he was hospitalised with breathing problems.
The second child was given pentavalent, rotavirus and polio vaccines on Wednesday morning at the Sowripalayam PHC. In a complaint to the police, the first child’s mother, Vijayalakshmi, 24, said,”The vaccination was done by the nurse at the anganwadi. But when we returned home, the child kept crying and refused to breastfeed, after which I administered four drops of the syrup given to me at the anganwadi. However, two hours later, my son developed severe breathing problem, and we rushed him to Uppilipalayam PHC.
They said he was critical and referred us to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, where they said he was already dead.” The child also had bronchitis for the last one week, the mother said. The official autopsy report is awaited, though unofficial reports said there was a pneumonic patch in the lungs.
The second child was also given pentavalent, rotavirus and polio vaccines at 10.56 am on Wednesday morning at the Sowripalayam PHC, where six other children were also vaccinated. The child had no problems and went to bed at 12 am on Thursday. However, he did not wake up as usual at 6 am. When his parents found him unresponsive they took him to hospital where doctors said he was brought dead. The child had no medical history or contra-indications. The parents have refused an autopsy.
Health secretary J Radhakrishnan said both the children’s deaths were not due to the vaccine. Health department officials said the babies were given different batches of vaccines. Deputy director of public health, Dr G Ramesh Kumar, said the same batch of vaccine had been administered to 13 other children at Masakalipalayam. In Sowripalayam, six other children were vaccinated. All the children who are being monitored have not reported any problems so far. “We are waiting for the post-mortem report and plan to send the vaccine vials for testing,” he said.
“We suspect that the bronchitis had not left the lung, though outer symptoms of cough had subsided. The death seems to be due to pneumonia or aspiration and not the vaccine. The exact cause of death of the second child will not be known,” said a member of the vaccine technical committee which met on Thursday evening.
Infectious disease specialist, Dr V Ramasubramanian, said it was possible for a vaccine to cause breathing problems and death. “However, we can reach any conclusion only after a complete investigation into what happened. It is more likely that the drops administered to the first baby, led to him aspirating, which can happen in very small babies. Breathing difficulty is not a contraindication to the vaccine. I have not seen an adverse reaction to this vaccine in my years of experience,” he said.