Oral polio vaccines safe — DOH

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit stressed yesterday that oral polio vaccines are safe as he clarified reports on the death of a three-month-old baby last Saturday after being given the vaccine several days earlier.

"Anti-polio vaccines are one of the safest in the world and it has been proven to have no side effects," Dayrit said.

He pointed out that the news report on the death of Kimberly Gregana, of Bagong Silang, Quezon City was filled with factual errors, causing the false alarm.

Dayrit said a DOH probe into Gregana’s death revealed that she died of a serious head injury sustained from an earlier accident. She apparently banged her head on the floor or a wall, something which her parents did not reveal to attending physicians.

The official cause of her death was a fracture on the infant’s skull. The cause of death was ascertained in an autopsy.

Dayrit also clarified that the baby did not get an anti-polio vaccine but an anti-Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus (DPT) shot last Jan. 9.

According to the news report, Gregana was injected with an anti-polio vaccine on her left leg. The next day, she suffered severe nose bleeding, fever, and mild swelling on the punctured leg. She was then taken to the health center where she received the vaccine. Health workers later applied betadine solution on the puncture.

Dayrit said the severe nose bleeding was caused by the skull fracture. The leg swelling and the fever were normal following vaccination.

The victim’s parents and relatives initially accused city health workers of malpractice in giving the vaccine that caused the child’s death. Dayrit said the family may not have been aware of the infant’s injury before making their allegation. – Rainier Allan Ronda