PESHAWAR: Two children were killed and 11 others fainted after being administered measles vaccine in a door-to-door campaign launched by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency, local sources said on Thursday.
\nAlso, the security forces arrested four employees of the NGO after the incident that took place in Purdilabad area in Shalobar Union Council in Bara.The vials of measles vaccine were also seized and sent to the laboratory for tests.
\nThe sources said that staff of the NGO in question was vaccinating children against measles when the condition of dozens of them worsened after being administered the vaccine.The two children who fainted following the immunisation were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital while nine were rushed to the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.
\nOne of the deceased was identified as Abu Bakr, son of Farmanullah while the name of the other child couldn\u2019t be known. However, it was learnt that he belonged to Jamrud tehsil and had come with his parents to visit their relatives in Bara.
\nA local health practitioner wishing not to be named said that the NGO didn\u2019t follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and carried out door-to-door campaign that increased the risk of Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).
\nHe said that vaccinators didn\u2019t have AEFI kit that led to the deaths of the two children.\u201cIt could have saved the life of the children if they had the AEFI kit that contains necessary injections which can be administered to a person suffering from a reaction,\u201d he added.
\nRepeated efforts were made to approach the officials of the political administration and Khyber Agency Health Department for comments, but they didn\u2019t bother to answer the phone.The sources said the measles vaccine had been obtained from Dogra Hospital in Bara.
\nAccording to the sources, there were no facilities at the Dogra Hospital to maintain cold chain or the vaccine could have expired and this may have led to the deaths of the children.A local tribal elder, Haji Kaptan Khan Afridi asked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to order a probe into the incident and take action against those whose negligence caused the deaths of the children.
\nHe asked the government to announce compensation for the families of the deceased children. It may be added that a child is vaccinated against measles at the age of nine months while a booster shot is given at 15-month age.The cold chain management is the proper procedure to keep the vaccines in a particular temperature for its efficacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR: Two children were killed and 11 others fainted after being administered measles vaccine in a door-to-door campaign launched by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency, local sources said on Thursday. Also, the security forces arrested four employees of the NGO after the incident that took place in Purdilabad area in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n