A day after she was administered the pulse polio, hepatitis B, and DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) vaccine, two-month-old Drishti Ingle, a resident of Bhandup, died
at the Rajawadi Hospital on Sunday.
While the cause of death is unclear, a source said it could be adverse reaction to the vaccination. “Drishti was administered a dose of the vaccines on Saturday at a civic health post at Tembipada, Bhandup (West),” the infant’s uncle, Pandurang Patil, said. “She began crying a lot and started bleeding from the nose late on Saturday night. She was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital early on Sunday but she died at 11am.”
Drishi’s parents Anita, 20, and Yogesh, 27, a web designer, plan to wait for the post-mortem report before deciding on the action to be taken against the civic authorities, said Patil.
Confirming the incident, Dr Mangala Gomare, in-charge of the BMC’s polio immunisation drive, said, “We don’t know if the death is related to immunisation. It could be a coincidence. We don’t know if she had some underlying condition which could have caused an adverse event following immunisation.”
According to the civic health department, 90 children were immunised on Saturday. “But none of the other children have had any complaints,” she said, adding that the vaccines were safe and had been stored properly.
The civic body has 170 health posts across the city where children under the age of five are immunised regularly.
Despite the incident, the BMC went ahead with its pulse polio immunisation drive on Sunday. “This drive was conducted city-wide and we covered 61% of the target,” said Gomare. “Of the 13 lakh children under the age of five, about 7.94 lakh received the vaccine.” She added that health officials would undertake a door-to-door vaccination drive over the next five days.
