Parents blame vaccine for son’s death
Health officials say nothing wrong in injection
Parents in Haputale are blaming a vaccine administered by Badulla District Medical Officer of Health (MoH) for their three-year-old son’s death.
The last time John David saw his son, threeyear-old David Rosario alive, he was sleeping soundly snuggled against him. The following morning, on Sunday July 6, Rosario was dead.
Rosario lived with his father, an Ayurveda resort attendant, his mother, K. Pushpalatha, an estate tea plucker, and his five-year-old elder sister on Hagalla estate, Haputale in a house built with donations from German guests his father attended to. On the morning of July 5 (Saturday), Pushpalatha took Rosario to the free vaccination clinic conducted by the area MoH.
“My son was in very good health that day,” Pushpalatha recalled. “He played at the clinic and the staff there even joked with him. He smiled at their jokes. We waited in line for about an hour and my son had the injection around 9.30 a.m.”As instructed, Pushpalatha waited with Rosario at the clinic for about 20 minutes after receiving the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination. (This waiting time is required to ensure that the patient does not develop an allergic reaction to the vaccination.) The clinic staff instructed Pushpalatha not to bathe Rosario for three days and to give him children’s Panadol syrup in case he gets fever.
Pushpalatha returned from the clinic with Rosario walking beside her. Back home he played a bit with his sister, watched some TV, and napped twice. He refused to eat rice and only ate some chocolate biscuits with milk. That night, around 8 p.m., Pushpalatha says Rosario complained of feeling faint, so she gave him some Panadol syrup and put him to bed.
“Then around midnight my son woke up and said he wanted to go to the toilet,” John David said. “Several times that night he had a bit of diarrhoea and I cleaned it up. He sweated and shivered somewhat in his sleep.”
The following morning, the father realised the situation could be serious and decided to take Rosario to the Diyatalawa Base Hospital. They went in a three-wheeler stopping briefly at the nearby church for blessings, but when the padre wasn’t there they went on their way.
“When we arrived at the hospital around 9 a.m., the staff there said my son ‘was gone, he was no more,’ ” John David said. “He was a healthy, strong boy. There was nothing wrong with him so that’s why I suspect the injection caused his death. I complained to the local police.”
Rosario’s body was released last week with an ‘open verdict’ by the coroner, staff at the MoH’s office said. No cause of death was determined. The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr. H.T.K. Wijeweera was on leave last week and wasn’t available for comment.
Health officials, however, were highly skeptical that the MMR vaccine could have caused Rosario’s death.
“To my knowledge, this can’t be due to the vaccine,” Badulla MoH officer Dr. Milinda Perera said. “The vaccine bottle had 10 doses. This child got the seventh shot. The other nine children who got the shot had no problems with the inoculation. For complaints such as this, 99 percent of the time there is no actual association with the vaccine. The problem is if this happened to my own child, I could think the same way.”
Vaccines such as MMR, could cause adverse side effects but only very rarely, accordingly to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Getting the vaccine is actually much safer than getting diseases. Mild problems from the MMR vaccine, such as fever, mild rash or swelling of glands in the cheeks or neck, could occur six to 14 days after the shot is administered.
Moderate problems from the MMR vaccine include seizures caused by fever, occurring about one in 3,000 doses/cases, temporary low platelet count occurring about one in 30,000 doses/cases, and pain and stiffness in joints mostly for about one out of four women.
Very rarely, in less than one out of a million doses, MMR vaccine could cause Anaphylaxis, a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. Anaphylactic reactions could occur within minutes to an hour with symptoms such as itchy skin or swollen eyes and lips. The MMR vaccine contains trace amounts of neomycin, an antibiotic that prevents bacterial contamination. Healthcare providers recommend anyone known to be allergic to neomycin or any other component of the vaccine not to receive the second dosage. Rosario had not developed any adverse reactions to the MMR vaccine when he received the first dosage at nine months.
When they made the allegations, Rosario’s parents did not even know which vaccine their son had been administered by the clinic. Pushpalatha said the clinic staff didn’t tell her the name of the vaccine being administered beforehand.
“They didn’t tell us anything,” John David said. “But when we went to the police to complain, a midwife came by and started yelling at us asking for the injection card.”
Health officials “certainly” inform parents which vaccine is being administered, and for which age, Badulla District regional epidemiologist Dr. Nilan Priyankara said.
“The education level of the parents also matter in understanding these things,” he said. “The area PHMs who administer also know these families well. The injection card is theirs; however, the parents didn’t even let me see it, when I asked.”
“My personal opinion is that this death could have been avoided had the child been admitted to the hospital earlier,” he added. “The hospital staff says by the time the child arrived at the hospital, rigor mortis had set in. Rigor mortis sets in about three hours after death.”
Officials are awaiting JMO and toxicology reports to determine the cause of death after the open verdict was returned.