India: Dozens of children sickened after given hepatitis B vaccine orally
India has been polio-free for more than two years and was later taken off the list of polio endemic countries that now includes only Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
In an effort to keep the country polio-free, children are immunized against the potentially crippling virus; however, in an unfortunate incident, some 57 children under the age of five were sickened with vomiting after they were inadvertently administered hepatitis B vaccine orally, instead of the oral polio vaccine, according to a report in The Hindu.
The incident occurred at Khatun primary school in Goghat, a village 50 miles from Calcutta.
The Telegraph UK reported the error was first noticed by the father of a 14-month-old boy who saw staff administer the ‘polio’ drops from boxes marked ‘Hepatitis B vaccine’.
“There is no harmful effect of the vaccine, but giving Hepatitis B vaccine instead of pulse polio immunization drops is neither acceptable nor desirable,”said B.R. Satpathy, director of State Health Services.
Biswaranjan Sathpaty, director of West Bengal Health Services, said the error had been made because a member of staff had sent her husband to collect the vaccines instead of fetching them herself.
Stating that it was a case of clear negligence of duty on the part of the heath workers, he said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has directed strong action against those responsible for the mix-up.
The health workers have since been suspended pending investigation.