PESHAWAR: The provincial health department has launched probe into the incidents involving hospitalisation of children after getting vaccine in different districts of the province during the ongoing 12-day campaign against measles.

About 150 children developed health complications after getting measles vaccine in Hangu, Kohat and Swat. On Wednesday, children of a private school also landed in a hospital soon after receiving the vaccine.

Officials said that measles vaccines, purchased and procured by the federal government and supplied to the provinces, were safe but the reactions were caused by human error and negligence.

The campaign, launched on May 19, covered about 72 million children of the target nine million. The drive is being extensively monitored to safeguard the children instead of exposing them to health complications. Officials said that investigations into the incidents showed that the vaccinators didn’t follow the scientific protocols that caused complications.

Health dept probes hospitalisation of children

One vial covered maximum of 10 children but new syringe should be used for every person to prevent adverse reaction.

In Peshawar, a technician left his duty to another person, who wasn’t trained and used the same syringe for seven children, according to initial probe conducted by the health department.

Officials said there was no chance of expiry of the vaccine but mistakes by the vaccinators caused the problem. They said vaccinators were also required to prepare the injection by fixing powder with distilled water and immediately administer it to the children.

“In many cases of reaction, we have found that the vaccinators failed to apply correct techniques and prepare the injections well before being administered to the children,” officials said. They added that it was also important to discard the remaining doses of the vials if those weren’t given immediately to the children.

However, some technicians in several areas Anti-measles vaccine safe but negligence causing complications continued to give the leftover injections to the children that were medically wrong, officials said.

They said that massive campaigns were launched in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh simultaneously but no adverse reaction was reported from the latter despite the fact that the same injections were used in both the provinces.

Officials said that some vaccinators administered the injection wrongly in deep muscles against the right way of subcutaneous. “When the injection goes into deep muscles, it causes reaction due to rapid absorption,” they added. Officials said that adverse affects were observed in two children per 100,000 which shouldn’t worry the people.

They said that vaccinators had cold boxes to carry the vaccine safely as they knew the expiry of the vaccine from the vial monitor but the main problem was mistakes made by the people associated with the effort.

Officials said that the campaign was launched in the province keeping in view soaring cases of measles during the last two years. They said that as opposed to oral polio vaccine, which could be administered by anyone as it required two drops through mouths, the anti-measles injections could only be administered by health workers or trained vaccinators.

Officials said that they were also investigating about the training of the vaccinators in the areas from where cases were reported. About five to 10 per cent children could develop temperature within 24 hours of the injection but it posed no threat to the recipients, they added.

The campaign, to end on May 31, will continue to cover the target children.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2014