A tragedy. This Friday, June 2, 2017, the Minister of Health of South Sudan (an African country that has suffered a civil war since 2013) announced the deaths of 15 children in the south-east of the country, in the Kapoeta region. In question: contaminated vaccines, administered as part of a vaccination campaign against measles.
To reach this conclusion, a health survey was carried out by a South Sudanese health committee with the help of experts from WHO and Unicef. “This investigation (…) concluded that the serious infections and toxic effects resulting from the administration of a vaccine caused this incident,” Minister Riek Gai Kok said at a press conference in Juba, the national capital. “The vaccination team did not meet the safety standards approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).”
Only one syringe was used for mixing
Concretely, the health authorities ignored an obvious rule of hygiene: for the step consisting in mixing the vaccine with a diluent for its injection, a single syringe was used. “The reuse of the so-called reconstitution syringe implies that the latter is contaminated, then in turn contaminates the vials containing the vaccines against measles, and therefore infects vaccinated children” explained the Minister.
Worse: according to the health survey, the vaccines were not stored in accordance with the rules of the cold chain, which favored their contamination … and the death of children.
This “deadly” vaccination campaign lasted 4 days. Deaths began to occur from May 2, 2017 and, in addition to the 15 deaths, 32 other children suffered unwanted side effects: vomiting, fevers, diarrhea … In total, 300 people were vaccinated.
To read :
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Measles is back, WHO is concerned
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