Deaths, side effects hit JE immunisation
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20060725045846&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+-+Karnataka&Topic=0
Tuesday July 25 2006 15:20 IST
UNI
BELLARY: The Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccination programme’s
pilot project launched in the district for children has been
crippled following the death of two vaccinated children,
complaints of side-effects and shortage of health staff.
After reviewing the programme with all health officers here on
Monday, Deputy Commissioner Arvind Srivastav, clarified that the
deaths of two children reported from Kudligi and Kampli town
were not due to the JE vaccination. The deaths might have
occurred due to various reasons.
In the Kampli case, the girl had already been suffering from dog
bite. Her blood sample had been sent to a lab in Pune and the
results were expected in a couple of weeks. In the other case,
the parents of the child did not allow for a postmortem. Hence
the reason for the death could not be ascertained, he added.
He said the week-long programme started on July 10 had been
extended as only 85 per cent of the targeted 7.2 lakh children
could be covered within the stipulated time, accounting for 6,06
894 children.
About one lakh children could not be covered due to various
reasons including parents’ refusal to send their wards for
vaccination, following the death of two children and reports of
side effects.
Srivastav informed that the health department had opened centres
to administer the vaccine to the remaining children. It would
function on all Thursdays starting from this week. He said the
centre had been asked to supply more vials to the district to
complete the programme.
An immunisation team has been constituted to study the effects
of the vaccination. Ten teams had been constituted taluk-wise
and would immediately attend to children to trace the reasons
for the adverse effects.
The programme would cover newborns in the future in a bid to
totally eradicate brain fever.