Three children in Nghe An Province’s Chau Quang Commune died after vaccination due to vaccine allergy, one official from the Ministry of Health said.
Family of Vi Trung Kien after his death
Phan Trong Lan, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine, made the comment on December 20.
According to Lan, the agency directed the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Central Paediatrics Hospital to coordinate with Nghe An provincial Department of Health to investigate the cases of three three month-old children in Chau Quang died a few days after vaccination in early December.
Medical experts and provincial and ministerial officials have met and concluded that the incidents were a result of allergy against Quinvaxem, a fully liquid pentavalent, or five-in-one vaccine and an oral polio vaccine (OPV).
The provincial Department of Health has requested halt to the usage of those Quinvaxem and OPV vaccines that were used in these cases. They have also sent the vaccine samples to the National Institute for Control of Vaccine and Biology for testing.
Even though the ministry has said that the children died of an allergy, they added that there is not yet sufficient evidence to prove a relation between the deaths and the vaccines.
After establishing the fact that the deaths were caused by the vaccines, the Ministry of Health will seek support from the World Health Organisation, as well as the cooperation of vaccine manufacturers.
The ministry has also requested that medical workers fully inform families about the potential risks of all vaccinations and alert them to the symptoms of allergies.
