VietNamNet Bridge – One hour after being vaccinated with 5-in-1 Quinvaxem vaccine, a 5-month-old baby girl turned pale, foamed and died at the hospital of Phuoc Long district in the southern province of Bac Lieu on November 24.

On the morning of November 24, the baby named Ngoc was vaccinated at the health station of Hung Phu Commune with 17 other babies. Back home, the baby turned pale, foamed and had breathing problems. Her parents took her back to the health station for check-up. The baby was then transferred to the hospital of Phuoc Long district but she did not survive.

According to the initial identification of the hospital, the baby died due to anaphylaxis after vaccination. The Bac Lieu Province Health Department sent vaccine samples for testing before sealing the batch of Quinvaxem vaccine used at the medical station of Hung Phu commune.

The process of preservation of vaccines and vaccination by health workers were also being verified by the authorities.

In the evening of November 26, the Department of Preventive Health made official announcement on the cause of the baby’s death.

Mr. Tran Dac Phu, the agency’s director said that experts of the Ministry of Health investigated the incident and concluded that the baby did not die of the vaccine because the medical station of Phu Hung commune used the same vaccine for 77 other children earlier, and 17 others on the same day with the dead baby, and all babies are normal. The vaccine used in Hung Phu was also checked for quality before use.

The death was also not caused by immunization practices because health workers at the Hung Phu commune meet the specialized process of immunization safety. The vaccine was also preserved according to regulations.

Experts said that the baby died due to respiratory failure, circulatory failure after injection, may be due to anaphylactic hypersensitivity or other fatal diseases.

Regarding the case of anaphylaxis after vaccination, Phu said that according to statistics from the World Health Organization, there are about 20 cases out of one million doses. The above death is one of the total of nearly 400,000 doses of Quinvaxem vaccine that have been used since October 2013.

On the coincidence of fatal disease in children under one year old, according to statistics in Vietnam, the mortality rate of children of under 1 year old is 15.8 ‰, equivalent to approximately 70 children per day. This figure is 18 ‰ in China, equivalent to 900 babies per day, 26 ‰ in the Philippines, equivalent to 158 children each day and 6.4 ‰ in the US, equivalent to approximately 70 children a day.

In Vietnam, since Quinvaxem was re-used from October, there were two deaths after vaccination. In particular, the case of a 3-month-old baby in Quang Tri was confirmed to die of pneumonia (with autopsy results). The second case in Bac Lieu is also affirmed to not be caused by the vaccine.

The family of the dead baby received VND40 million from the local authorities.

Le Ha