Vietnam: New Vaccine Kills Babies

Jan 7 (HANOI) – A 3-month-old baby has died in Hanoi after getting vaccinated with Quinvaxem, a vaccine that claims to prevent five diseases.  This was the sixth death among nine affected children involving the vaccine since November, authorities reported.  Nguyen Van Boi, 30, of Yen Thuong Commune, Gia Lam, Hanoi, said his son, Nguyen Thanh Long, 3 months old, died on January 5, a day after being vaccinated with Quinvaxem, which is made in South Korea.

The baby was hospitalized at the Duc Giang General Hospital in critical condition at 4 am last Saturday and died about 20 minutes later.

Meanwhile, the other 180 infants in the commune who received the same vaccine on January 4 remain heathy, said Dr Nguyen Trong Oanh, head of the commune health station.

The vaccine claims to fight five diseases, including diphtheria, whooping-cough, tetanus, Hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

The “five-in-one” vaccine was provided to the commune by the Gia Lam District Preventive Health Center, Oanh said.

The death of the 3-month-old boy was the sixth among the children nationally who have not handled the vaccine normally, Oanh said.

As previously reported, five of the 65 babies in Chau Quang commune, Nghe An Province died from unknown causes 2-10 days after they were immunized with the vaccine in December.

Dr Bui Dinh Long, director of the Nghe An Province Health Department, said the deaths were similar to each other.

According to a Tuoi Tre inquiry, 500,000 doses of Quinvaxem were imported into Vietnam in July 2010.

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