Vaccine deaths more than usual: BMC records…..Madhavi Rajadhyaksha I TNN
Mumbai: The death of three children after they were administered various vaccines last week takes on an ominous note when compared to last year’s statistics.
The civic public health records showed that three children had succumbed to “adverse effect following immunisation’’ in the 12-month period ending April 2008.
Three deaths in a week are indeed a cause for worry, admit health officials. TOI had reported the death of three children after they were administered vaccines. The BMC withdrew batches of the DPT, Hepatitis B and BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) vaccines following the incidents.
The withdrawal created a temporary shortage of vaccines, due to which some vaccination camps over the weekend had to be cancelled.
Vaccines, like most medicines, could have side-effects. Any child who is taken to a civic health post or hospital with complications and has recently been vaccinated is picked up in the BMC’s surveillance and classified as a case of “adverse effect following immunisation’’ (AEFI).
The recent cases take the total number of AEFI deaths in 2008 to four. The first death of the year was recorded in January, when one-month-old Asma B from Jijamata Nagar in Dadar died at KEM Hospital after taking the monovalent oral polio vaccine.
Civic doctors are yet to ascertain the reason for her death. “While the vaccine got a clean chit from the Kasauli laboratory, and her post-mortem report too was clean, a committee of experts will decide if the vaccine caused the death,’’ said a civic doctor. Incidentally, the committee has not yet been formed.
It may then take months before investigations reveal what went wrong in the case of the three children who died last week. When asked about the investigations, Dr Mangala Gomare, who heads the BMC’s immunisation cell, said, “It is unfortunate that three incidents were reported last week, but at the same time there are many others who were vaccinated without problems. The benefits of vaccination to the community from the public health pointof-view are immense.’’
Complications are not always severe. Many toddlers show minor side-effects, such as fever, rashes or diarrhoea. Nearly 22 such children trooped into civic set-ups in the April 2007-April 2008 period with these complaints.
According to the World Health Organisation, up to 50% of children vaccinated with DPT fever, swelling or redness, while 5% of those who get Hepatitis B shots could get fever and rash. As far as BCG is concerned, fever is common.
Adverse reactions, too, are well-documented. For instance, 20 in every million children who are given the DPT shot are likely to go into toxic shock. Five in every million children who receive the Hepatitis B vaccine could get the Guillain Barre Syndrome (a disorder of the peripheral nervous system).