Two infants from Chinnagiri Doddi village in Mandya taluk, who were each administered a dose of pentavalent vaccine injection under a mass immunisation drive on Thursday, have died. The incident triggered panic among the village residents.
While two-month-old Bhuvan, son of Ravi and Hemavathi, died on Friday, two-and-a-half-month-old Preetham, son of Ravikumar and Priya, died on Saturday. Six more children aged between two months and two years, who were vaccinated in Hollalu Primary Health Centre were found exhausted and shifted to various hospitals, where they are under observation.
According to Health Director P.L. Nataraj, the six children are doing well and are out of danger. They are under observation as they were also immunised with the same vial, he said.
Nearly 2,500 children were administered the pentavalent vaccine — a combination of five vaccines in one (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenza type b) — in the district in the last few days.
Dr. Nataraj, who along with a team of experts has started a probe into the deaths, told The Hindu that although the exact cause of the deaths was yet to be ascertained, the batch of vaccine supplied to Mandya taluk had been seized. “We have sent it to the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, for an analysis,” he said.
“The same batch of vaccine has been supplied to other parts of the State and we have not received any complaints of adverse effects. The laboratory and autopsy reports will help us arrive at a conclusion,” he said, and urged people not to panic.
Asserting that the regular immunisation drive in the district would continue, Dr. Nataraj said, “We will submit the first-hand information that we have gathered from the dictrict to the Principal Secretary and the Commissioner, based on which anyone found to be negligent will be punished.”
Protest
Following the death of the infants, their panicked family members rushed to the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) and staged a protest, questioning the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. They alleged medical negligence by the staff at the centres where the infants were vaccinated.
MP for Mandya C.S. Puttaraju, Deputy Commissioner N. Manjushri, Superintendent of Police G. Radhika and other officials visited the MIMS and spoke to the protesters. The protest was withdrawn following an assurance by the authorities that the matter would be looked into seriously.
