Polio vaccination: Inquiry initiated into child’s death in Mansehra

MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department on Wednesday initiated an inquiry into the death of a child who had allegedly died after being administered the anti-polio vaccine.

“We have collected aspersion fluid from the abdomen of a child whose death, according to his family, was caused by the polio vaccine and these samples would be examined at a diagnostic laboratory,” Dr Shahzad Ali Khan, the district health officer, told reporters.

Naeem Shah, 3, was taken to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital where doctors declared him dead.

According to his family, he was normal but fell unconscious after the health department’s polio vaccination team administered him drops in the morning. The body, which was autopsied at the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, was handed over to the family on completion of medico-legal formalities.

Dr Shahzad told reporters that the deceased child was not allergic to polio vaccine as he was receiving drops since his birth and “we are investigating what caused his death.”

“It would be premature to say that his death is caused by polio vaccine as other children of that specific locality are also administered drops from that same vial,” he said.

Dr Shahzad said that a team, comprising Medical Superintended of King Abdullah Teaching Hospital Dr Mohammad Javed Tanoli and others, would adopt all forensic procedural norms to find out the cause of the death.

Also in the day, the polio immunisation drive continued as usual in the district and polio teams administered polio drops to children of five and below even following alleged death of a child.