VietNamNet Bridge – The health of pregnant women who were mistakenly vaccinated in northern Bac Ninh Province's Tu Son Town on December 20 is stable, the Ministry of Health and provincial health department affirmed.

Tuong Giang Commune's health clinic

Department director Nguyen Hanh Chung said on Saturday that Nguyen Quyet Thang, the vice chief of Tuong Giang Commune's health clinic, mistakenly administered DPT vaccine to 31 pregnant women. Thang did not detect the mistake until the end of the working day.

DPT is a combined vaccine that prevents three infectious diseases in humans: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus.

Chung said that the department invited leading vaccine, pediatric and obstetrics experts to assess the seriousness of the incident and provide comprehensive medical check-ups for the affected women.

Out of 31 pregnant women who came for health check-ups, 29 were in good health, he said.

The incident was reported to the Ministry of Health and those involved in the incident were suspended from working.

Nguyen Tran Hien, director of Ha Noi's Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said that the incident was serious and unacceptable.

Attributing the mistake to medical workers' irresponsibility and neglect, he stressed that the ministry would impose strict penalties on those involved. However, Hien said the vaccine did not harm the women, as it was an inactive vaccine.

Tran Dac Phu, director of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health's Preventive Medicine Department, proposed that Thang be dismissed.

He also asked the local health department to continue taking care of these women until they gave birth and re-examine the quality of health staff at local clinics.

The ministry also sought opinions from World Health Organisation experts. Masaya Kato from the organisation said on December 20 that there was no record of harm from administering the DPT vaccine to pregnant women.

Source: VNS