Kid dies after 'immunization', govt denies cause

PATNA: A two-month-old girl died early Saturday morning at Shahpur village near Hajipur in Vaishali district allegedly after being immunized on a routine immunization schedule on Friday. Six other children of the village were admitted to sadar hospital at Hajipur after they fell ill on Saturday. Vaishali civil surgeon has ordered a probe into the incident.
The dead baby girl, daughter of a farmer, was suffering from high fever after vaccination. She was given medicines for fever at the sadar hospital. As many as 14 kids were vaccinated against polio at the village on Friday.
Vaishali civil surgeon Dr Ramashish Kumar said, "Friday was a routine immunization day when children were given vaccines for diseases such as hepatitis B and polio. Pentavalent and BCG vaccines were also a part of the programme. Fever is natural after vaccination. The other six children were admitted to hospital as a precautionary step. I have asked the officials concerned to ascertain whether the incident is connected to administration of polio drops or not?"
A relative of one of the six children admitted to sadar hospital said the children developed fever and suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea after being vaccine.
State immunization officer Dr N K Sinha said, "We surveyed houses of every beneficiary who were under scanner because of the immunization. The deceased's kid and his father were sleeping in open because of hot weather. The family woke up just before dawn when it started raining and realized that the baby was dead. The kid died because of cold. Others were admitted because of hue and cry. All of them who were admitted have been discharged now. The postmortem report of the deceased is awaited."
Vaishali SP Rakesh Kumar said they were waiting for the deceased baby's family to file a written complaint, else they will suo motu register a case. DM Vinod Singh Gunjiyal said he was looking into the matter.
Bihar has remained polio-free for over four years. India was declared polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014 after no case was detected since 2011.