Yet one more child dies. How many will be sacrificed?

October 23, 2008

BMC freezes vaccine after death of 18-month-old girl 23 Oct 2008, 0349 hrs IST,

Rajiv Sharma, TNNhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumbai/BMC_freezes_vaccine_after_death_of_18-month-old_girl_/articleshow/3630687.cmsMumbai:

Following the death of an 18-month-old girl after being given a dose of vaccine

at a health post in Andheri (E) on Tuesday evening, the mu nicipal corporation

has frozen certain batches of vaccine and sent samples for testing.

Sources said the girl, Ishadevi Sharma, was being taken by her

parents to the local health post at MIDC for regular vaccine doses since her

birth. On October 20, she was given the DPT booster as well as the polio dose

and brought back home.

In the evening, Ishadevi developed high fever

and, as instructed by the doctor, her mother applied warm water on the place

where the child was given the injection. She also gave medicines to the child.

As the child's condition worsened, she was taken to a nearby hospital the

following day. When she started frothing at the mouth and continued running a

temperature, she was referred to Cooper Hospital in Juhu, where she was declared

dead.

According to Dr Mangala Gomare, in charge of BMC's

immunisation programme, Ishadevi was among 29 children who were given vaccine

doses at the MIDC health post. As an immediate measure, the administration has

frozen this particular batch of vaccine.

The official said that

samples of this vaccine have been sent to the laboratory at Kasauli to check for

contamination. "The body was taken for a postmortem examination and the cause of

death is still awaited,'' Dr Gomare added. Sources said that viscera samples had

also been sent for a chemical analysis to the Kalina Forensic Science

Laboratory. Also, the body samples have been sent for a histopathology report to

find out if the child had contracted a disease recently.

"It is

surprising to note that there have been several deaths following immunisation,

and the administration has not been able to find a solution to this,'' a senior

doctor said. One vaccine decreases cell-mediated immunity by 50%, two vaccines by 70%â€¦all triple vaccines (MMR, DTaP) markedly impair cell-mediated immunity, which predisposes to recurrent viral infections - Dr H H Fudenberg, world renowned immunologist.

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