One more baby dies after given the notorious vaccine Quinvaxem
Thanh Nien News
HO CHI MINH CITY - Friday, June 19, 2015 16:00Email Print
Officials refused to make any connection between her death and the vaccine
A 4-month-old baby died two days after receiving the 5-in-1 vaccine Quinvaxem in Ho Chi Minh City, but officials refused to make any connection between her death and the vaccine.
The baby received the shot at a neighborhood clinic in Go Vap District on Monday. She died on Wednesday morning, after losing appetite the previous night and developing rashes that morning.
The baby’s parents brought her to a clinic but doctors there found she had been dead.
Cao Thi Thom, the 38-year-old mother, told Tuoi Tre newspaper that her baby had no prior medical conditions.
The doctor who gave her the vaccine only said she was undernourished and needed to have more milk, Thom said.
She said her daughter had a fever after coming back and she gave her some fever-reducing medicine.
A representative from the clinic where the baby was vaccinated said the vaccine was not the cause of her death.
Nguyen Tri Dung, director of Ho Chi Minh Preventive Health Center, said only forensic tests can determine if the vaccine had anything to do with the death.
Quinvaxem is a WHO prequalified drug, designed to protect children against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type B infections.
The Netherlands-based Crucell introduced it globally in 2006. The vaccine is much cheaper than alternatives.
Berna Biotech Korea Corp distributed the vaccine in Vietnam in 2010 and the country has been giving it to babies from two months old for free.
But the health ministry suspended the vaccine on May 4, 2013 after nine infants died between November 2012 and March 2013.
Its investigation found the deaths were not related to the use of Quinvaxem, which prompted the ministry to bring it back in October the same year.
Since the vaccine's return, at least six babies have died, after being given the shots.