Medics act fast after measles jab death in Bomet
A boy looks on during a past vaccination against measles. Many parents in Bomet said they spent sleepless nights after they noticed swellings on their babies. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Bomet County government officials rushed to assure parents of the safety of their children after word went round about the death.
The children, who had been vaccinated by health workers of Bomet County, were taken to the hospital by their parents after they developed swelling on the body.
Quick efforts are being made to ensure the safety of the anti-measles jab following the death of a child and the hospitalisation of several others in Bomet who reacted severely to the vaccine.
The incidents followed a vaccination drive on Monday in Mogogosiek, Konoin Sub-County of Bomet County. The children were taken to Tenwek Mission Hospital.
County government officials rushed to assure parents of the safety of their children after word went round about the death.
“We have taken up the matter seriously and there is no need to panic. Our surveillance staff from the public health department are on the ground. But parents whose children were immunised should take them for check-up at the nearest health facility,” said Bomet Deputy Governor Hillary Barchok."
A brother of the dead child is among the four children in serious condition at the hospital. The children are aged between nine and 12 months.
The children, who had been vaccinated by health workers of Bomet County, were taken to the hospital by their parents after they developed swelling on the body.
REACTIONS
Medics at the hospital, among them medical superintendent Steve Burgert, said the children were responding well to drugs.
Dr Burgert said the patients were taken to the hospital on Tuesday after they were vaccinated on Monday. He added that the measles vaccine caused reactions.
The medic said: “The swelling was obviously from body reactions to the vaccine. We have operated on them and they are receiving treatment at the intensive care unit and the high dependency unit.”
Mr Simon Kirui, a parent who lost one of his twins, wants the government to establish whether the vaccines were safe and whether the health workers were qualified.
“It is sad that I have lost my child after having him vaccinated so that I could be with him for longer years. The short period together, occasioned by the vaccination, was untimely,” he said.
He said he does not want to speculate on the death since the drugs were from the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency. He said the government should be liable.
Mr Kirui said the child had not been sick before the vaccination.
SWELLING
He added that on Monday morning, he sent his daughter and son, who is admitted to the hospital, for vaccination, accompanied by their mother. When his daughter was brought back home, her hand was swollen and she had a fever. They took her to Tenwek Mission Hospital for treatment.
The hospital’s deputy nursing officer, Paul Too, said: “All the patients (children) admitted to our facility are out of danger. Doctors are monitoring the situation very closely.”
A paediatrician at Tenwek Hospital, Dr Carolyn Stickney, called on residents of Konoin Sub-county whose children had been vaccinated at Mogogosiek Health Centre to have their children examined, following the discovery that some of them had contracted infections.
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Nineteen other parents whose children were vaccinated that day rushed to various health institutions for check-up on their children.
Others sought medical check-up at Kapkatet Hospital in the neighbouring Kericho County.
Many parents told of sleepless nights spent after they noticed small swellings on their babies’ bodies.
