Vietnam to Continue Using Quinvaxem Vaccine despite Recent Deaths

Vietnam will keep using Quinvaxem or the 5-in-1 vaccine in the national Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) after health authorities announced that the recent death of a baby just minutes after an injection in the northern province of Hai Duong was not related to the vaccine, state media reported. The child received the 5-in-1 shot at a commune medical station in the morning of October 25. She started vomiting the next morning and her buttocks developed purple patches that afternoon, according to local medical officials. The family took her to a hospital soon after that, but she died on October 27 of anaphylactic shock. The same reason was blamed for the death of a three-month-old boy in the central province of Nghe An, who died just minutes after vaccination on October 20. Quinvaxem is a WHO prequalified drug given to infants in Vietnam for free as part of a national immunization program to protect against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenza type B infections. The drug is distributed by Berna Biotech Korea Corp and is much cheaper than alternatives. The authorities have administered 25 million shots since 2010. The Health Ministry suspended the vaccine in May 2013 after nine infant died between November 2012 and March 2013. Investigations by both ministry and the WHO did not find any issue with the vaccine. The authorities then reintroduced the shots in October the same year. The latest death is the ninth one the last two years and the second in a week, none of them have been linked to the vaccine. (Nguoi Lao Dong - Laborer Nov 2 p2, Thanh Nien – Young People Nov 2 p2)