After being vaccinated with Quinvaxem, which has been re-used after five months of suspension for safety verification, 27 children in southern Tien Giang Province were hospitalized for high fever.
>> Quinvaxem to be re-used after 5-month suspension >> Vietnam suspends Quinvaxem vaccine following 9 deaths
These children, who were taken to Cai Lay General Hospital for treatment, were among those vaccinated under the National Extended Vaccination Program (NEVP) that was implemented during the past two days, October 25-26.
Two of the 27 children suffered from diarrhea and bronchitis, and one of them has been transferred to Pediatrics Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City for intensive treatment.
Dr. Tran Thanh Thao, acting director of the provincial Health Department, said all the 27 children were found with high fever at noon of October 25, a couple of hours after the vaccination.
Of these children, 19 were taken to Cai Lay General Hospital the same day while the others were hospitalized a day later.
After the incident, the provincial Health Department has consulted the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute and decided to halt the vaccination program in Cai Lay on October 25 while continuing the program in other districts in Tien Giang with closer supervision, Dr Thao said.
Yesterday noon, October 26, Tuoi Tre correspondents arrived in Cai Lay General Hospital and met Huynh Thi Thanh Van who said, “My baby has got fever on and off for two days, together with seizures sometimes. We are very worried.”
5-month suspension
The made-in-Korea Quinvaxem is the very vaccine that was suspended by the Ministry of Health on May 4 for investigation, after nine deaths and dozens of cases of severe allergic reactions among local infants were recorded from November 2012 to April 2013.
After the investigation ended, Nguyen Tran Hien, head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and chairman of the NEVP, said on September 24 that the vaccine would be used again as the result of the investigation showed that there were no unsafe cases in relation to the use of this vaccine.
Forensic tests showed that most of the children who died after being vaccinated with Quinvaxem had suffered from diseases – mainly heart problems – before the vaccinations, Hien explained.
Hien also said 1.5 million doses of Quinvaxem have been imported recently and most of them have been examined to ensure safety.
Quinvaxem is meant to prevent five common, potentially fatal childhood diseases: diphtheria (D), tetanus (T), pertussis (P, whooping cough), hepatitis B (HepB), and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib).
Đăng ký: VietNam News