Two infants die within 24 hours after receiving vaccine in Tamil Nadu

In Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, two babies, aged 2.5 months and three months died after they were given pentavalent, rotavirus, and oral polio vaccines.

By: Satata Karmakar | | Published: February 20, 2021 9:22 am

Two infants die within 24 hours after getting vaccine shot

In a shocking incident, two infants from Coimbatore died within 24 hours after receiving the pentavalent, rotavirus vaccines, and oral polio. Both the infants aged around two-and-a-half months. Also Read - Polio immunization drive begins on Sunday: What you need to know

According to the reports, the first baby suffered difficulty in breathing after getting the vaccines. The family rushed him to a nearby hospital, where the baby was referred to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. On arrival at CMCH, the baby was declared dead. Speaking to the media, the parents of the baby said that vaccines caused their child’s death. Also Read - World Immunization Week 2019: 7 diseases you can prevent with vaccines

“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 gave him four drops of the syrup that was given to me by the hospital. However, within hours, he started developing breathing issues. We took him to the hospital where the doctors referred us to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. On reaching there, our child was declared brought dead,” the child’s mother told the media. Also Read - Government postpones polio immunization programme

However, the health department has refused that the cause of the deaths was due to the administration of the vaccines.

“Postmortem revealed the death of one infant due to pneumonia and the cause of the other death was yet to be ascertained,” health officials were quoted as saying.

In another incident, the child was administered both the rotavirus and polio vaccines on Wednesday morning. Unlike the first child, the second child had no symptoms and problem in breathing and he went to sleep at 12 am on Thursday. However, he did not wake up the next morning. Seeing the child unresponsive, the parents took him to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Following the incident, the Coimbatore Health Department asked the Anganwadis and primary health centres (PHCs) not to use a particular batch of vaccines following the death of two infants a couple of days ago.

Since the parents were panicky, the department ordered not to use the particular batch of paediatric vaccines until further orders, even as the condition of nearly 35 babies vaccinated at both the centres was reported normal, they said.

The Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan has said an internal inquiry has been launched.

Published : February 20, 2021 9:22 am

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