Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
Immunization side-effects claimed 133 children?s lives in 2011
Kounteya Sinha, TNN | Aug 25, 2012, 06.09AM IST
NEW DELHI: Around 133 children died last year due to adverse effects following immunization (AEFI).
Minister of state for health Sudip Bandhopadhyay admitted on Friday said that six of those deaths occurred due to programme errors, while four others died of vaccine reaction.
Around 56 deaths have been termed "unclassifiable", and 67 were termed "coincidental."
In comparison, 138 children had died of AEFI in 2010. The death figures till last year had persistently risen. There were 111 and 116 deaths in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
...
"Around 18.3 lakh (1,830,000) children under five years die every year due to various illnesses. These include 13.2 lakh (1.32 million) children who die before reaching the age of one year and 9.4 lakh (940,000) within the first month after birth. However, each AEFI is investigated, and an effort is made to establish the cause. Any disruption in cold chain may affect the potency, and thereby the efficacy of the vaccine, but can hardly cause deaths. In case of any contamination of vaccine to an extent that it would cause fatality, deaths of a greater magnitude would occur as any batch of vaccine is administered to a very large number of children," a health ministry official said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...drens-lives-in-2011/articleshow/15656700.cms?
Kounteya Sinha, TNN | Aug 25, 2012, 06.09AM IST
NEW DELHI: Around 133 children died last year due to adverse effects following immunization (AEFI).
Minister of state for health Sudip Bandhopadhyay admitted on Friday said that six of those deaths occurred due to programme errors, while four others died of vaccine reaction.
Around 56 deaths have been termed "unclassifiable", and 67 were termed "coincidental."
In comparison, 138 children had died of AEFI in 2010. The death figures till last year had persistently risen. There were 111 and 116 deaths in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
...
"Around 18.3 lakh (1,830,000) children under five years die every year due to various illnesses. These include 13.2 lakh (1.32 million) children who die before reaching the age of one year and 9.4 lakh (940,000) within the first month after birth. However, each AEFI is investigated, and an effort is made to establish the cause. Any disruption in cold chain may affect the potency, and thereby the efficacy of the vaccine, but can hardly cause deaths. In case of any contamination of vaccine to an extent that it would cause fatality, deaths of a greater magnitude would occur as any batch of vaccine is administered to a very large number of children," a health ministry official said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...drens-lives-in-2011/articleshow/15656700.cms?