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More precaution needed

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-08 07:32

It is a matter of life and death. And there is no reason for anyone to take it for granted that it is just a coincidence. But some authorities do.

A 20-month-old child died two days after she was inoculated with a vaccine against Hepatitis A in Beijing two weeks ago. Another girl was reported to have had a fever for two days after being injected with the same type of vaccine. The dead child had the same symptom.

However, authorities of Beijing health bureau still refuse to stop the inoculation citywide. They maintain that the vaccines were bought through open bidding from proper channels and should have no quality problem. So, they argue, there is no reason to stop the inoculation in the capital city, but the city's disease prevention and control department will pay close attention to the use of the vaccines.

As to why a baby girl died immediately after the inoculation and another had abnormal reactions, they maintain that there is not enough evidence to show any connection between the death and the vaccine. The high fever of another girl is only an individual case not enough to prove the vaccine has a quality problem.

The result of the autopsy of the baby girl's body is yet to be known. What if her death was caused by the vaccine? What if the vaccine was also responsible for another girl's high fever? What if there might be some problematic vaccines among the whole batch of quality ones?

The autopsy result might possibly be otherwise. And the fever might be an individual case. But how can the authorities of the health bureau vouch for the sound quality of the vaccines before the two cases are confirmed as being not related to their inoculations?

It was right for the Fengtai district health authorities to suspend the use of the vaccines after the death of the baby girl in that district. And the vaccines continued to be used after their investigation confirmed the medicine to be in sound quality.

But whether the baby girl died because of the vaccine still remains a question. And so does the abnormal fever of another girl.

The most prudent and responsible action the health authorities should take is to suspend the use of the same batch of vaccines before a thorough investigation of the two cases.

Inoculation is a matter of life and death. Even the slightest error or lack of care at any stage in the entire process from production to transportation and even in the way the vaccines are kept could possibly cause problems or even death.

Vaccines - also for Hepatitis A - that were not properly kept during transportation caused one death and damage to the health of more than 100 primary school students in East China's Anhui province in 2005. That should have been a serious lesson for health authorities.

The importance of precaution can never be overestimated in such matters of life and death. We hope Beijing health authorities realize how serious the potential consequence of inadequate precaution could be.

(China Daily 12/08/2008 page4)