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Bad Vaccine Kills Up to 50 Children in Northern Syria Bad Vaccine Kills Up to 50 Children in Northern Syria
(about 3 hours later)
Spoiled or possibly sabotaged measles vaccine has killed as many as 50 children in insurgent-held areas of northwestern Syria, forcing a suspension of a large-scale vaccination campaign intended to stop the spread of measles, mumps, rubella and polio, volunteer medical organizations reported on Wednesday. Spoiled or possibly sabotaged measles vaccine has killed as many as 50 children in insurgent-held areas of northwestern Syria, volunteer medical organizations reported Wednesday, forcing a suspension of a large-scale vaccination campaign intended to stop the spread of measles, rubella and polio.
The victims, some of them just infants, apparently all died on Tuesday, mostly concentrated in the cities of Jarjanaz and Sinjar in Idlib Province, an area controlled by forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. These opposition forces have sought to function as an interim government and provide basic health care services, including inoculations and vaccinations to children, given the collapse of Syria’s public health care system since the civil war began more than three years ago. The victims, some of them just infants, apparently all died Tuesday, mostly concentrated in the cities of Jarjanaz and Sinjar in Idlib Province, an area controlled by forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. These opposition forces have sought to function as an interim government and provide basic health care services, including inoculations and vaccinations to children, given the collapse of Syria’s public health care system since the civil war began more than three years ago.
Dozens of other children in Idlib were reported to have been sickened by the vaccine. Dr. Abdulla Ajaj, a physician who helped administer the vaccine, said the suspect batch of doses had been received three days before they were used. “This is the first time we have had such a problem,” he said in a Skype interview. Dozens of other children in Idlib were reported to have been sickened by the suspect vaccine.
The provenance of the vaccine was not immediately clear, but Dr. Ajaj speculated that the doses may have been stored at improperly high temperatures. “Most probably they were badly kept inside the fridges,” he said. Dr. Abdulla Ajaj, a physician who helped administer the vaccine, said the suspect batch of doses had been received three days before they were used. “This is the first time we have had such a problem,” he said in a Skype interview.
The provenance of the vaccine was not immediately clear, but Dr. Ajaj speculated that the doses might have been stored at improperly high temperatures. “Most probably they were badly kept inside the fridges,” he said.
Other physicians, however, discounted that possibility, partly because the same vaccine had been used on many other children with no ill effects. Some speculated that toxins or other contaminants might have been introduced when the vaccine, which comes in multiple-dose vials, was diluted for individual injections.
Another Syrian physician in the affected area, Mohammad Hamadi, the secretary of a group called the Free Doctors Union, said medics who diluted the vaccine might have mixed it with Atracurium, a muscle relaxant used in surgery. Dr. Hamadi said the Atracurium bottles looked similar to the bottles of vaccine diluent. “We are investigating if it’s a mistake by the medical crew or a criminal act,” he said.
The Syrian American Medical Society, which organizes medical missions to Syria and runs a hospital in Idlib, said recipients of the bad vaccine began displaying symptoms within minutes, including tightness of breath, slowed heart rate, wheezing and inflammation of the larynx. The group’s own facility saw at least 65 patients, it said in a statement, and 15 were already dead upon arrival, all under the age of 1.The Syrian American Medical Society, which organizes medical missions to Syria and runs a hospital in Idlib, said recipients of the bad vaccine began displaying symptoms within minutes, including tightness of breath, slowed heart rate, wheezing and inflammation of the larynx. The group’s own facility saw at least 65 patients, it said in a statement, and 15 were already dead upon arrival, all under the age of 1.
The statement said the reason the vaccine had turned deadly was unclear, “though local staff speculate that the vaccinations may have been compromised by the storage location in Jarjanaz or potential tampering with the vaccinations.”The statement said the reason the vaccine had turned deadly was unclear, “though local staff speculate that the vaccinations may have been compromised by the storage location in Jarjanaz or potential tampering with the vaccinations.”
Physicians for Human Rights, a New York-based organization that has liaisons in opposition-controlled areas of northwest Syria, distributed an internal email saying that as many as 50 children may have died from the vaccine, which appeared to have been either spoiled or outdated, and that samples had been sent to Turkey for analysis. Physicians for Human Rights, a New York-based organization that has liaisons in opposition-controlled areas of northwest Syria, distributed an internal email saying that as many as 50 children may have died from the vaccine, and that samples had been sent to Turkey for analysis.
Video footage uploaded on YouTube showed an apparently lifeless girl in an orange shirt and turquoise pants not responding to a medic’s attempts to revive her through mouth-to-mouth and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Residents of Jarjanaz and Sinjar described scenes of panic and despair among parents who watched as their vaccinated children succumbed. Ahmah Doughaim, a nurse in Jarjanaz, vaccinated his 8-month-old daughter, who died 10 minutes later in his wife’s lap. “The father is collapsed now,” said a cousin, Hussein.
Video uploaded on YouTube showed an apparently lifeless girl in an orange shirt and turquoise pants not responding to a medic’s attempts to revive her through mouth-to-mouth and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The interim government posted a statement on its website that it had suspended the vaccination campaign and was investigating “in order to learn the truth behind this humanitarian disaster.”The interim government posted a statement on its website that it had suspended the vaccination campaign and was investigating “in order to learn the truth behind this humanitarian disaster.”
The vaccination campaign is part of a broader campaign by the United Nations to ensure that 1.6 million children are vaccinated in Syria against childhood scourges that have reappeared in the country since the war began. The World Health Organization and Unicef, which helped to organize the mass vaccination, confirmed in a statement that at least 15 young children had died, expressing shock and vowing to help investigate the reasons behind the disaster, which now threatens to upend the entire campaign.
Polio, a crippling viral disease thought to have been long eradicated in Syria, made a comeback a year ago in an insurgent-held area of the eastern part of the country. “Establishing the precise cause of the children’s death is vital,” the statement said. While it called the suspension of the campaign a prudent step until the facts were known, “it is vital that immunization efforts against measles — a disease which is a leading killer of children worldwide — resume in Syria as soon as possible.”
The vaccinations are part of a broader campaign by the United Nations to ensure that 1.6 million children are vaccinated in Syria against childhood scourges that have reappeared in the country since the war began.
Dr. Annie Sparrow, an assistant professor in the Department of Global Health at Mount Sinai in New York and an expert on the Syrian health crisis caused by the war, said that doctors in Syria had told her the symptoms from the bad vaccine included convulsions, an atypical reaction for a vaccine and more consistent with the effects of a neurotoxin. “If it’s expired it wouldn’t have caused that kind of issue,” she said in a telephone interview.
While she cautioned that it was premature to conclude that the cause was sabotage, the traumatizing effects on the vaccination campaign could be profound. “What parent in their right mind is going to have their children vaccinated again?” she said. “This is kind of unprecedented. It does of course raise the very worst kind of speculation.”