Four days after a two-month old died after having administered with the first dose of pentavalent vaccine at Vithura in Kerala, a high-level team consisting of experts from the Union ministry of health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have ruled out the possibility of her dying due to the vaccine. The experts investigating into the case infact have pointed to “smothering” as the reason behind her death.
The infant, Ansi, daughter of Shabeer and Shajila, was administered the vaccine on December 14 at the Vithura Community Health Centre (CHC). However, she was brought dead the next day to the Vithura CHC.
The death of the infant was treated as the first case of Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) following the introduction of the vaccine under the Universal Immunisation Programme in the country on December 14. Kerala was the first state to have introduced the five-in-one vaccine, which has antigens of five diseases-diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Hib or meningitis.
“As a matter of policy any child dying within 48 hours of vaccinated is thorughly investigated. The preliminary investigations found her death “unrelated” to the vaccine. Experts found blood frothing and there was swelling in the trachea. They concluded that she could have died due to smothering,” sources said.
Meanwhile, the remaining doses from the vial used to vaccinate the infant had been taken as sample by the team, which will has been sent to the Central Research Institute at Kasauli for detailed analysis. On Saturday, a team of experts, comprising of Dr N.K. Arora, former professor of paediatrics at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences and the chairperson of the national AEFI committee, Jayant Liyanang, from the office of the WHO’s SEARO, National Polio Surveillance Project regional coordinator Pavana Murthy and senior state health department officials visited the two-month’s old house.