Vaccination deaths: Cause still untraced

LUCKNOW - Four days after four infants died within minutes of receiving routine immunisation in three Uttar Pradesh villages near here, the authorities are still not clear about what caused the deaths.

High level teams of immunisation experts, both on behalf of the state as well as the central government, have been on the job for the past four days, without arriving at any conclusive finding.

Both teams claim to be waiting for a report from the Central Drug Laboratory at Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh where samples from the vials used during the fatal immunisation were sent for chemical analysis.

“It may take up to a week to get a report from the Kasauli lab,” principal secretary (health) Pradeep Shukla told reporters Wednesday.

Meanwhile, both teams were understood to be at their wit’s end as the manner in which the deaths occurred in Mohanlalganj block of Lucknow was unprecedented.

“Never before in human history have deaths occurred immediately after immunisation in different places where separate vials and diluters were used,” observed one of the members of the state team headed by G.K. Malik, head of department of Paediatrics at the Chhattrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University here.

Both teams have ruled out each of the three possibilities that could have led to the death of the four infants aged between six and nine months Saturday. They had undergone immunisation against measles, TB, diphtheria and vitamin ‘A’ deficiency.

“After a detailed questioning of the vaccinators, we are convinced that they were all experienced enough not to commit a human error in administering the doses; more importantly, the fact that in this case three different vaccinators were involved and it was unlikely that they all committed the same error simultaneously,” the member pointed out.

“Even vaccine reaction which occurs one in a million was ruled out on account of the proximity of the casualties,” he said.

“Lastly, since the vaccines and diluters were all found to be far from their respective expiry dates, fault with the vaccines too could not have been possible,” he said.

“A break in the cold chain was also ruled out as vaccines under the same cold chain were administered on as many as 237 infants. Even contamination with the vaccines could not have been possible for the same reason,” he added.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Anant Kumar Misra has shot off a letter to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azab, seeking a compensation of Rs.10 lakh for the families of each of the victims who were given Rs.50,000 each out of Chief minister Mayawati’s discretionary fund.

“After all, the measles vaccines, syringes and vitamin A syrup were provided by the central government only,” he pointed out.