Yet another newborn baby girl has died in a hospital in Tuy Phong District in the central province of Binh Thuan.
Dr. Nguyen Van Nhon, Director of the provincial Department of Health, said on July 22 that a mission team has been sent to the hospital to investigate cause of death of the baby girl.
The 27-year-old mother of the baby girl gave birth on July 21. After nurses injected the baby with a vaccine for Hepatitis B, the baby’s condition began to deteriorate and she later died despite the best of efforts to save her.
A mission team sent by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) under Ministry of Health, led by Nguyen Tran Hien, Head of the National Vaccination Programme's executive board has arrived in Huong Hoa District in the central province of Quang Tri.
The mission team has earlier worked with the People’s Committee and the Department of Health on cause of death of three neonates soon after vaccination.
The team has not yet reached any conclusion but has sent samples of brain, liver, kidney and lung for testing.
Around 600,000 vaccine dozes from two vaccine lots have been administered to babies across the country, with no reports of any serious side effects.
According to the mission team, preservation of vaccine at the hospital had not been as per regulations and nurses should have injected the babies in separate rooms, which they did not.
Following the incident, Nguyen Hoai Nam, from the Department of Health in Ho Chi Minh City, sent an urgent document to medical units to discontinue the present vaccine lot. The Center for Preventive Medicine liaised with Pasteur Institute where provided 25,000 dozes of vaccine for replacement to medical units in the city.
The Department has ordered medical units to tighten preservation techniques and follow injection procedures very strictly, as well as maintain careful records of import and export of vaccines. Doctors should also examine children before and after immunization.
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Vietnam discontinues two Hepatitis B Vaccines
Three newborn babies die after routine vaccination
