‘Faulty’ vaccines kill infant twins

Minutes after they were administered measles vaccine, two nine-month-old infants fell acutely ill and later died at a private nursing home in Shastri Nagar area of Ghaziabad on Wednesday night, police said.

Minutes after they were administered measles vaccine, two nine-month-old infants fell acutely ill and later died at a private nursing home in Shastri Nagar area of Ghaziabad on Wednesday night, police said.

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Avika and Anika Sharma, twin sisters, were administered the measles vaccines at Divya Nursing Home in Shastri Nagar on Wednesday evening.

“Even as the condition of one of my daughters deteriorated, the doctor told us that we need not worry since it was a normal reaction to the vaccine. The deteriorating condition of the baby did not deter him from administering the vaccine to my other daughter,” said Sunil Sharma, the victims’ father.

The two infants were immediately rushed to another hospital at Kavi Nagar, where they were declared brought dead, police said. A complaint was lodged against Dr Satveer Singh, Managing Director of Divya Nursing Home, at the Kavi Nagar police station, SSP Raghubir Lal said.

In his complaint, Sharma, a businessman, has accused Singh of taking away the medical prescriptions and vaccination chart after the incident. “The accused has gone missing. We have ordered to seal his hospital if he does not surrender by Thursday evening,” the SSP said.

Singh’s wife Dr. Bimla Singh, Director of Divya Nursing Home, said that they had bought the vaccines from a reputed wholesaler at the Medical Market near Nai Basti in Ghaziabad. “We suspect that the vaccines were faulty. However, the wholesaler is now refusing to handover the sale bills,” she said.

Ghaziabad Chief Medical Officer A.K. Dhawan said the vaccines have been sent for tests.
Meanwhile, a team of of World Health Organisation (WHO) officials visited the nursing home on Thursday to inquire into the incident.